MIT News - Chemical engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/topic/mitchemical-engineering-rss.xml
MIT News is dedicated to communicating to the media and the public the news and achievements of the students, faculty, staff and the greater MIT community.enSun, 11 Nov 2018 00:01:00 -0500Bridge to the future of engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/bridge-to-the-future-of-engineering-1111
The School of Engineering’s faculty leadership weigh in on what the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing will mean for their students and faculty.
Sun, 11 Nov 2018 00:01:00 -0500https://news.mit.edu/2018/bridge-to-the-future-of-engineering-1111<p>School of Engineering faculty are embracing the new <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2018/letter-mit-community-regarding-mit-stephen-schwarzman-college-computing">MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing</a> as a bold response to the rapid evolution of computing that is altering and, in many cases, fundamentally transforming their disciplines.</p>
<p>Inspired by student interest in computing, MIT President L. Rafael Reif launched an assessment process more than a year ago that involved widespread engagement with key stakeholders across the MIT community. Discussions were led by President Reif, Provost Martin A. Schmidt, and Dean of the School of Engineering Anantha P. Chandrakasan with Faculty Chair Susan Silbey playing a key role.</p>
<p>“The creation of the college is MIT’s first major academic structural change since 1950,” says Chandrakasan, the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. “After consulting with faculty from across engineering and throughout MIT, the need to do something timely and deeply impactful was abundantly clear. Mr. Schwarzman’s inspired and amazingly generous support was instrumental to our ability to move forward.”</p>
<p>The school’s eight department heads and two institute directors recently spoke of the exciting possibilities ahead as the college, which represents a $1 billion commitment, gets underway. There will be a new building, a new dean, and 50 new faculty positions located within the college and jointly with other departments across MIT.</p>
<p>School leadership says the college meets a significant need partly because it directly aligns with recent activities and changes in some of their own practices. For example, many departments have adapted their hiring and recruitment practices to include a heavier emphasis on selecting faculty who can work at a high level in computation along with another specialized field, says Chandrakasan. “In some ways the change has arrived,” he says. “The college is our way of building a powerful framework and environment for research and collaborations that involve computing and that are occurring across disciplines. The college remains a young idea and its vibrancy and success will depend on thoughtful input from people across MIT, which I look forward to hearing.”</p>
<p><strong>At the forefront</strong></p>
<p>The eye of the storm of change has undoubtedly been in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). Faculty do research to advance core computing topics while also addressing an inundation of requests to build bridges and connect their work with other disciplines. In the last two years alone, EECS faculty have established new joint academic programs with economics and urban science and planning.</p>
<p>The creation of the college will provide vital support and accelerate all kinds of computing-related research and learning that is happening across the Institute, says Asu Ozdaglar, School of Engineering Distinguished Professor of Engineering and EECS department head. “With the launch of the college, we hope that MIT’s leading position in research and the education of future leaders in computing will continue and grow.”</p>
<p>Markus Buehler, head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the McAfee Professor of Engineering, agrees. “We have been at the forefront of this transformation of our discipline,” he says. The increased role of computing has impacted all five of CEE’s strategic focus areas, which include ecological systems, resources, structures and design, urban systems, and global systems. As a result, the department is now planning a potential new major between CEE and computer science, and the college will help in that effort, says Buehler. “The creation of the college will serve as a key enabler,” he says.</p>
<p>The MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society is also deeply aligned with the college, says Munther Dahleh, director of IDSS and the William A. Coolidge Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. IDSS works with all five schools to promote cross-cutting education and research to advance data science and information and decision systems in order to address societal challenges in a systematic and rigorous manner. IDSS plays a “bridge” role that will prove useful to the college, Dahleh says. It has launched cross-disciplinary academic programs, hired joint faculty in three schools, and enabled collaborations across all five schools.</p>
<p>“The new college will provide a structure for expanding these activities, he says. “And it will create new opportunities to connect with a larger community in sciences, social science, and urban planning and architecture.”</p>
<p><strong>Steeped in computing</strong></p>
<p>The timing is right for the college, say the faculty. “We are excited by the growth opportunities in computing because the nuclear science and engineering disciplines are so steeped in the development and application of numerical tools,” says Dennis Whyte, the Hitachi America Professor of Engineering and head of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering.</p>
<p>The Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics has&nbsp;a significant number of faculty working in information engineering for aerospace systems, particularly autonomous systems, says Daniel Hastings, the Cecil and Ida Green Education Professor at MIT and incoming head of the department.</p>
<p>“The college will allow us to expand our research and teaching into all the ways that computing technologies are changing the aerospace enterprise,” says Hastings. Those ways include deep learning to recognize patterns for maintenance in the operation of multiple aircraft, artificial intelligence for traffic control of fleets of uninhabited flying vehicles, and intelligent robotic systems in space to service low-Earth orbit satellites, among others.</p>
<p>Increasingly, the tools of machine learning and artificial intelligence are being fruitfully applied to materials design problems, says Christopher A. Schuh, the Danae and Vasilis Salapatas Professor of Metallurgy and head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE). “Our department sees computational thinking as a critical skill set for any budding materials scientist,” he says, adding a large fraction of DMSE faculty focus on computational materials science or use computational methods in designing new materials.</p>
<p>“We are excited to see MIT focusing on computing broadly, and we look forward to a deep materials-centric engagement with the college,” he says.</p>
<p><strong>Growth opportunities </strong></p>
<p>Paula Hammond, the David H. Koch Professor in Engineering and head of the Department of Chemical Engineering, would like to see the college provide new opportunities and pathways for chemical engineering to grow. One-third of faculty in her department work with computation as their primary research method, she says.</p>
<p>Hammond looks forward especially to the arrival of new faculty. “I see these new positions as a chance to hire faculty members who are rooted in the molecular and systems-oriented thinking that defines our field, while doing research in new and important areas, including global problems in environment, energy, health, and water.” She says such interdisciplinary faculty would be instrumental in building a new computational major in chemical engineering (10-ENG) that is currently in development.</p>
<p>Douglas Lauffenburger, the Ford Professor of Bioengineering and head of MIT’s Department of Biological Engineering, expresses a similar hope. “The creation of the college is a bold step, and I'm hopeful that some of these additional faculty positions will enable a strengthening of computational biology on campus.”</p>
<p><strong>Training the next generation</strong></p>
<p>Faculty also spoke of how the college will enable MIT students to play leadership roles in the future of computing — and other engineering fields. “It will strengthen our ability to train the next generation of mechanical engineers and better prepare students to join the workforce by exposing them to computation and AI throughout their education,” says Evelyn N. Wang, the Gail E. Kendall Professor and head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.</p>
<p>An increasing number of research fields within mechanical engineering rely on computing technologies — from smarter autonomous machines to more accurate extreme event prediction and -3D printing. “The college will help students and researchers working in these fields advance their groundbreaking research even further,” adds Wang.</p>
<p>Elazer Edelman, the director of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, says the potential is vast. “From access to critical data sets to insights derived from machine and deep learning, the college will enable all of us to better interact as a community to address important problems and to train the next batch of young stars at the interface of science, engineering, computing and medicine,” he says. Edelman is the Edward J. Poitras Professor of Medical Engineering and Science at MIT.</p>
<p>“We at IMES are particularly excited to work with the college in interacting as a global community of scholars from this incredibly exciting and imaginative platform,” he says.</p>
“The college is our way of building a powerful framework and environment for research and collaborations that involve computing and that are occurring across disciplines," says School of Engineering Dean Anantha P. Chandrakasan, the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.Image: Christopher Harting and Lesley Rock MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, School of Engineering, Algorithms, Artificial intelligence, Biological engineering, Aeronautical and astronautical engineering, Chemical engineering, Civil and environmental engineering, Computer science and technology, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs), Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), Machine learning, Materials Science and Engineering, DMSE, Mechanical engineering, Nuclear science and engineering, IDSS, President L. Rafael Reif, FacultyHarnessing the power of sustainable energyhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/jesse-hinricher-student-sustainable-energy-1101
With a love for the environment that took root on his family’s farm, senior Jesse Hinricher aims to put less expensive components into more efficient batteries.Thu, 01 Nov 2018 00:00:00 -0400Gina Vitale | MIT News correspondenthttps://news.mit.edu/2018/jesse-hinricher-student-sustainable-energy-1101<p>Energy production can be expensive, or inefficient, or toxic to the environment — or some unfortunate combination of the three. But Jesse Hinricher thinks it doesn’t have to be.</p>
<p>Hinricher, an MIT senior majoring in chemical engineering, has been conducting research focused on specialized batteries that could be plugged into the grid to provide renewable energy on demand. Specifically, he works on swapping out some of the pricier electrolytes in so-called redox flow batteries for more abundant ones, which could help make clean energy more affordable.</p>
<p>He cites his rural childhood as the initial source of his passion for environmental conservation. Hinricher grew up on a Minnesota farm, planting and harvesting soybeans, gardening, and tending cattle on his mother’s farm. His mom, who singlehandedly tends the 700-acre family farm, instilled in him the importance of hard work and independence, which remain some of his core values.</p>
<p>“She taught me to value education, and knowledge, and her work ethic has been a source of inspiration to me,” he says.</p>
<p>On a farm, he says, everything is mechanical; he enjoyed working with his hands. That affinity, blended with his drive to develop solutions for climate change, led Hinricher to study chemical engineering. He had seen firsthand how dramatically the seasons changed over years. For him, climate change wasn’t a distant concept; it was an increasingly alarming reality, and one that he felt he couldn’t ignore.</p>
<p>“I enjoy the environment, and I think it needs to be protected,” he says. “And if not me, then who?”</p>
<p><strong>Battery power</strong></p>
<p>Since January 2017, Hinricher has worked in the lab of Fikile Brushett, the Cecil and Ida Green Career Development Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, on developing redox flow batteries. In some ways, these are similar to batteries you might put in your TV remote: Electrolytes ferry electrons between a cathode and an anode, producing energy. However, the energy density of redox flow batteries is too small to be used for something like a remote, or even a cell phone. They’d likely be incorporated into large-scale energy grids, and would theoretically be more energy efficient and less geographically dependent than other renewable energy storage devices.</p>
<p>For example, in the middle of the day, solar panels are producing lots of energy, but after the sun sets, they are not. Redox flow batteries can store renewable energy for people to use all day rather than relying on coal or natural gas plants. The pitfall of these batteries currently is that they require rare and expensive materials. That’s where Hinricher’s work comes in; his research focuses on identifying less expensive electrolytes and troubleshooting any flaws in their implementation.</p>
<p>“If we can discover less expensive materials, it makes redox flow batteries more commercially attractive, which would be&nbsp;the coolest thing to ever have contributed to,” he says.</p>
<p>Though Hinricher enjoys his work at MIT, it isn’t where he began his collegiate career. After graduating high school in 2012, he enrolled at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. He says that the School of Mines is well-connected, and does an excellent job of preparing its students to enter into industry. However, as much as he liked the applied side of chemical engineering, he was deeply interested in the theoretical aspects as well. He eventually transferred to MIT in fall 2016, excited to delve deeper into the conceptual side.</p>
<p>Before that, though, he carried out research in Professor David Boyles’ group at the School of Mines, working for two years performing organic synthesis of monomer units. This, he says, was where he learned “how rigorous and ultimately gratifying research can be when you care about it and are as passionate as Dr. Boyles was. He imparted that same passion to me.”</p>
<p>Hinricher also took a semester off his studies at Mines to serve as a Lunar Advanced Volatile Analysis subsystem integration and testing intern at NASA. There, he worked on the Resource Prospector Mission, developing analytical instruments for a robot intended to one day go to the moon and search for water.</p>
<p>Then, through a student research program held at Princeton University, he researched polymers that could stitch themselves back together when damaged. At the time he received his acceptance to MIT in 2015, he had ventured out to Berkeley, California, for an internship at the solar technology startup PLANT PV. Hinricher credits the startup’s co-founders, Brian Hardin and Craig Peters, as major influences on his career and mentorship.</p>
<p>“They made me an offer to stay out in California for a year and defer admission here, and I accepted, and had one of the best experiences that I could have asked for,” he says, describing how he saw firsthand to manage a startup and conduct cutting-edge research on renewable energy sources. His experiences also inspired him to dream of starting his own company one day.</p>
<p><strong>Take a hike</strong></p>
<p>Outside of classes, Hinricher likes to stay in touch with the nature that inspired his conservationist outlook in the first place. When he worked for PLANT PV in California, that meant winding through the towering trees of Muir Woods. Now, it’s anything from the White Mountains in New Hampshire to the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.</p>
<p>He’s also a member of Trash2Treasure, an MIT recycling program that places donation sites for used items in campus dormitories each spring. Then, in the beginning of the next academic year, T2T sells it back to the student body at a serious discount. One year, the organization managed to save around 250 boxes of items, which is something like 33 tons of material.</p>
<p>“It saves material that would have gone to landfill, and allows students to buy last-minute items very inexpensively,” he says. Anything that the group doesn’t sell is donated to a charitable organization.</p>
<p>In the future, Hinricher says he’d like to keep researching energy storage, and would like to start his own company. Right now, though, he plans to work toward his PhD and see where his research —&nbsp;and the scenic hiking trails along the way — will take him.</p>
Jesse Hinricher, an MIT senior majoring in chemical engineering, has been conducting research focused on specialized batteries that could be plugged into the grid to provide renewable energy on demand.Image: Jake BelcherProfiles, Students, Undergraduate, Chemical engineering, School of Engineering, Sustainability, Renewable energy, Alternative energy, BatteriesYoussef Marzouk and Nicolas Hadjiconstantinou to direct the Center for Computational Engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/youssef-marzouk-nicolas-hadjiconstantinou-named-center-computational-engineering-co-directors-1031
New leadership team named for the Institute&#039;s interdisciplinary hub for advanced thinking in the science and engineering of computation.Wed, 31 Oct 2018 12:30:00 -0400School of Engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/youssef-marzouk-nicolas-hadjiconstantinou-named-center-computational-engineering-co-directors-1031<p>Youssef Marzouk and Nicolas Hadjiconstantinou have been named co-directors of MIT’s Center for Computational Engineering (CCE), effective immediately, Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of the School of Engineering, has announced.</p>
<p>“This is an exciting time for computation at MIT, and I’m delighted they have agreed to serve in this important role,” Chadarkasan says. “The CCE has become a hub for some of the most advanced thinking on the science and engineering of computation. Professor&nbsp;Marzouk and Professor&nbsp;Hadjiconstantinou’s deep connections to this community and its pioneering educational programs will make them important partners in our plans for the future.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>An associate professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Marzouk is also the director of MIT’s Aerospace Computational Design Laboratory and has served as co-director of graduate educational programs for the CCE. He is also a core member of the Statistics and Data Science Center in MIT's Institute for Data, Systems, and Society. His research focuses on uncertainty quantification, inverse problems, statistical inference, and large-scale Bayesian computation for complex physical systems, and on using these approaches to address modeling challenges in energy conversion and environmental applications.</p>
<p>Marzouk received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees in mechanical engineering at the Institute, and spent several years at Sandia National Laboratories before joining the faculty in 2009. He is a recipient of the Hertz Foundation doctoral thesis prize, the Sandia Laboratories Truman Fellowship, the U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Research Award, and the Junior Bose Award for Teaching Excellence from the MIT School of Engineering.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Hadjiconstantinou is a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and co-director for the CCE’s Computation for Design and Optimization program, as well as its computational science and engineering PhD program. His research interests include kinetic transport for small-scale fluid flow and solid-state heat transfer applications, molecular and stochastic simulation of nanoscale transport phenomena, and molecular and multiscale simulation method development. His research group uses theoretical molecular mechanics approaches, as well as molecular simulation techniques, to develop better understanding, as well as reliable models of nanoscale transport.</p>
<p>Hadjiconstantinou received a BA and MA in engineering from the University of Cambridge, and MS's in both mechanical engineering and physics from MIT, where he also earned his PhD in mechanical engineering. He is a former Lawrence Livermore Fellow and was awarded the Gustus L. Larson Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Center for Computational Engineering was launched in 2008 and serves as a focal point for research and education in computational science and engineering at MIT. The center has its roots in the Computation for Design and Optimization (CDO) master’s degree program, which first started in 2005. CDO was incorporated into CCE when it was established, and in 2013 the center established a PhD program in computational science and engineering.</p>
<p>The center now comprises faculty and research partners from across the Institute. Its work focuses on advancing computational methodologies for scientific discovery and technological innovation across a spectrum of societally important application areas.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>The CCE’s education programs are, by construction, interdisciplinary. Students in the center’s doctoral program, for example, satisfy departmental requirements with participating partner departments (currently Aeronautics and Astronautics, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Mathematics), but with enhancements that reflect an emphasis on computational engineering. This with-departments&nbsp;curricular structure is already serving as a model for other interdisciplinary doctoral programs at MIT, such as the PhD program in statistics administered within IDSS. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Marzouk and Hadjiconstantinou replace Anthony Patera, the Ford Foundation Professor of Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Karen Willcox, a former MIT professor of aeronautics and astronautics.</p>
Youssef Marzouk (left) and Nicolas Hadjiconstantinou assume new roles at the Center for Computational Engineering at “an exciting time for computation at MIT,” says School of Engineering Dean Anantha Chandrakasan.Photo: Lillie Paquette/School of EngineeringSchool of Engineering, Mechanical engineering, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Civil and environmental engineering, Chemical engineering, Nuclear science and engineering, Mathematics, Classes and programs, Computer science and technology, Education, teaching, academics, Faculty, Collaboration, School of ScienceHow to mass produce cell-sized robotshttps://news.mit.edu/2018/how-mass-produce-cell-sized-robots-1023
Technique from MIT could lead to tiny, self-powered devices for environmental, industrial, or medical monitoring.Tue, 23 Oct 2018 11:00:00 -0400David L. Chandler | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/how-mass-produce-cell-sized-robots-1023<p>Tiny robots no bigger than a cell could be mass-produced using a new method developed by researchers at MIT. The microscopic devices, which the team calls “syncells” (short for synthetic cells), might eventually be used to monitor conditions inside an oil or gas pipeline, or to search out disease while floating through the bloodstream.</p>
<p>The key to making such tiny devices in large quantities lies in a method the team developed for controlling the natural fracturing process of atomically-thin, brittle materials, directing the fracture lines so that they produce miniscule pockets of a predictable size and shape. Embedded inside these pockets are electronic circuits and materials that can collect, record, and output data.</p>
<p>The novel process, called “autoperforation,” is described in a paper published today in the journal <em>Nature Materials</em>, by MIT Professor Michael Strano, postdoc Pingwei Liu, graduate student Albert Liu, and eight others at MIT.</p>
<p>The system uses a two-dimensional form of carbon called graphene, which forms the outer structure of the tiny syncells. One layer of the material is laid down on a surface, then tiny dots of a polymer material, containing the electronics for the devices, are deposited by a sophisticated laboratory version of an inkjet printer. Then, a second layer of graphene is laid on top.</p>
<p><strong>Controlled fracturing</strong></p>
<p>People think of graphene, an ultrathin but extremely strong material, as being “floppy,” but it is actually brittle, Strano explains. But rather than considering that brittleness a problem, the team figured out that it could be used to their advantage.</p>
<p>“We discovered that you can use the brittleness,” says Strano, who is the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT. “It's counterintuitive. Before this work, if you told me you could fracture a material to control its shape at the nanoscale, I would have been incredulous.”</p>
<p>But the new system does just that. It controls the fracturing process so that rather than generating random shards of material, like the remains of a broken window, it produces pieces of uniform shape and size. “What we discovered is that you can impose a strain field to cause the fracture to be guided, and you can use that for controlled fabrication,” Strano says.</p>
<p>When the top layer of graphene is placed over the array of polymer dots, which form round pillar shapes, the places where the graphene drapes over the round edges of the pillars form lines of high strain in the material. As Albert Liu describes it, “imagine a tablecloth falling slowly down onto the surface of a circular table. One can very easily visualize the developing circular strain toward the table edges, and that’s very much analogous to what happens when a flat sheet of graphene folds around these printed polymer pillars.”</p>
<p>As a result, the fractures are concentrated right along those boundaries, Strano says. “And then something pretty amazing happens: The graphene will completely fracture, but the fracture will be guided around the periphery of the pillar.” The result is a neat, round piece of graphene that looks as if it had been cleanly cut out by a microscopic hole punch.</p>
<p>Because there are two layers of graphene, above and below the polymer pillars, the two resulting disks adhere at their edges to form something like a tiny pita bread pocket, with the polymer sealed inside. “And the advantage here is that this is essentially a single step,” in contrast to many complex clean-room steps needed by other processes to try to make microscopic robotic devices, Strano says.</p>
<p>The researchers have also shown that other two-dimensional materials in addition to graphene, such as molybdenum disulfide and hexagonal boronitride, work just as well.</p>
<div class="cms-placeholder-content-video"></div>
<p><strong>Cell-like robots</strong></p>
<p>Ranging in size from that of a human red blood cell, about 10 micrometers across, up to about 10 times that size, these tiny objects “start to look and behave like a living biological cell. In fact, under a microscope, you could probably convince most people that it is a cell,” Strano says.</p>
<p>This work follows up on <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2018/cell-sized-robots-sense-their-environment-0723">earlier research</a> by Strano and his students on developing syncells that could gather information about the chemistry or other properties of their surroundings using sensors on their surface, and store the information for later retrieval, for example injecting a swarm of such particles in one end of a pipeline and retrieving them at the other to gain data about conditions inside it. While the new syncells do not yet have as many capabilities as the earlier ones, those were assembled individually, whereas this work demonstrates a way of easily mass-producing such devices.</p>
<p>Apart from the syncells’ potential uses for industrial or biomedical monitoring, the way the tiny devices are made is itself an innovation with great potential, according to Albert Liu. “This general procedure of using controlled fracture as a production method can be extended across many length scales,” he says. “[It could potentially be used with] essentially any 2-D materials of choice, in principle allowing future researchers to tailor these atomically thin surfaces into any desired shape or form for applications in other disciplines.”</p>
<p>This is, Albert Liu says, “one of the only ways available right now to produce stand-alone integrated microelectronics on a large scale” that can function as independent, free-floating devices. Depending on the nature of the electronics inside, the devices could be provided with capabilities for movement, detection of various chemicals or other parameters, and memory storage.</p>
<p>There are a wide range of potential new applications for such cell-sized robotic devices, says Strano, who details many such possible uses in a book he co-authored with Shawn Walsh, an expert at Army Research Laboratories, on the subject, called <a href="https://www.elsevier.com/books/robotic-systems-and-autonomous-platforms/walsh/978-0-08-102047-0">“Robotic Systems and Autonomous Platforms,”</a> which is being published this month by Elsevier Press.</p>
<p>As a demonstration, the team “wrote” the letters M, I, and T into a memory array within a syncell, which stores the information as varying levels of electrical conductivity. This information can then be “read” using an electrical probe, showing that the material can function as a form of electronic memory into which data can be written, read, and erased at will. It can also retain the data without the need for power, allowing information to be collected at a later time. The researchers have demonstrated that the particles are stable over a period of months even when floating around in water, which is a harsh solvent for electronics, according to Strano.</p>
<p>“I think it opens up a whole new toolkit for micro- and nanofabrication,” he says.</p>
<p>Daniel Goldman, a professor of physics at Georgia Tech, who was not involved with this work, says, “The techniques developed by Professor Strano’s group have the potential to create microscale intelligent devices that can accomplish tasks together that no single particle can accomplish alone.”</p>
<p>In addition to Strano, Pingwei Liu, who is now at Zhejiang University in China, and Albert Liu, a graduate student in the Strano lab, the team included MIT graduate student Jing Fan Yang, postdocs Daichi Kozawa, Juyao Dong, and Volodomyr Koman, Youngwoo Son PhD ’16, research affiliate Min Hao Wong, and Dartmouth College student Max Saccone and visiting scholar Song Wang. The work was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the Army Research Office through MIT’s Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies.</p>
This photo shows circles on a graphene sheet where the sheet is draped over an array of round posts, creating stresses that will cause these discs to separate from the sheet. The gray bar across the sheet is liquid being used to lift the discs from the surface.Image: Felice FrankelResearch, School of Engineering, Chemical engineering, Nanoscience and nanotechnology, Robots, Robotics, Sensors, Graphene, Materials Science and Engineering, electronicsAddressing Africa&#039;s sustainable development https://news.mit.edu/2018/addressing-sustainable-development-in-africa-1019
Researchers and experts attend African Sustainable Development Conference at MIT.Fri, 19 Oct 2018 14:20:01 -0400Taylor De Leon | Civil and Environmental Engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/addressing-sustainable-development-in-africa-1019<p>Climate change, a surging population, and increasing demand for food, housing and natural resources present Africa and the world with extraordinary challenges.</p>
<p>On Sept. 24, numerous experts from diverse disciplines and areas of the world convened at MIT to discuss sustainable development in Africa. The conference was hosted by the Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique-MIT Research Program (UMRP), a collaboration with the Moroccan university (UM6P) led by MIT faculty director Elfatih A. B. Eltahir, the Breene M. Kerr Professor of Hydrology and Climate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.</p>
<p>UMRP, which launched in 2016, is comprised of six projects led by MIT faculty, which are each built around the dissertation research of an MIT graduate student. The UMRP researchers work closely with the faculty and student colleagues from UM6P, who engage in complementary research.</p>
<p>The African Sustainability Conference provided a showcase for these projects, featuring presentations from MIT and UM6P faculty, researchers, and international experts on climate and water, sustainable urbanization, precision agriculture, smart chemistry, and industrial optimization for the phosphate industry. Group discussions related to critical challenges and potential opportunities within each area followed each session.</p>
<p>Eltahir began the conference by highlighting the significance of Africa in terms of global sustainability, noting that the substantial yet uncertain effects of climate change are already noticeable in agricultural productivity and infrastructure throughout the continent. Projections show that by 2050, Africa’s population will double from 1 billion to 2 billion people, creating an influx of urbanization.</p>
<p>“We are forging an honest collaboration between MIT and a like-minded research and education partner in Africa with the mission of advancing sustainability goals, while also helping build UM6P’s institutional capacity to lead by example on the continent,” expressed Eltahir.</p>
<p>Eltahir brings his background in hydrology and climate to his own UMRP research project, that focuses on improving water management and agricultural productivity in one of Morocco’s major river basins, the Oum-Er-Rbia watershed.</p>
<p>“Climate change is a major challenge for the world, especially concerning Africa. Morocco is a country that suffers from interannual rainfall variability. We are focused on looking for ways to improve management for water resources and availability,” explained Eltahir.</p>
<p>Morocco is highly vulnerable to heat waves and low precipitation, and those extremes are expected to intensify due to climate change. Eltahir’s research addresses these issues through a three-level modeling approach geared toward climatology and forecasting, hydrology, and operations in terms of agricultural planning and infrastructure.</p>
<p>He hopes the program will continue to grow, allowing for further collaboration between MIT and UM6P, students, and faculty. Furthermore, some of the tools, models, and processes that are being utilized in Morocco and greater Africa, can be applied to other regions around the world who will face similar challenges due to climate change.</p>
<p>In addition to Eltahir, the workshop brought together MIT professors John Fernández of the Department of Architecture, Benedetto Marelli of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Paul Barton of the Department of Chemical Engineering, and Christopher Cummins and Yogesh Surendranath of the Department of Chemistry. Including UM6P colleagues, invited international experts, and MIT graduate students, the conference highlighted efforts to implement resilience, adaptability, and sustainability into the future of African cities.</p>
<p>John Fernández, director of MIT’s Environmental Solutions Initiative and professor of architecture, helped launch UMRP with the focus that there is an urgency needed for long-term sustainability, in the areas of society, economy, and climate.</p>
<p>Through comprehensive material accounting of the needs of Moroccan cities, Fernández will be developing specific technology and policy recommendations for UM6P, providing the country with a template for long term urban sustainability.</p>
<p>“One of our goals is to produce a UMRP urban resource tool that would allow Morocco and greater Africa to access data and reach informed decisions about urban sustainability,” said Fernández. The tool’s engine would be developed in partnership with UM6P and the tool itself would be offered online.</p>
<p>The strains of urban population growth, and a predicted threefold increase in urban energy and urban land area globally is a primary motivation of the project. In addition, it is likely that low-income urban areas in Africa will be most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change due to unreliable and limited access to energy sources, water, and shelter.</p>
<p>“With climate change, what happens in terms of the vulnerability of lower income segments of urban population, and at what point, with extreme heat, intense precipitation or climate-induced water shortage does urban vulnerability become urban survivability?” Fernández asked.</p>
<p><strong>Securing resources for the future</strong></p>
<p>In addition to climate concerns, agricultural production concerns were raised as well from both MIT and UM6P experts.</p>
<p>Benedetto Marelli, the Paul M Cook Career Development Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, shared that he is focused on developing new technologies that can increase agricultural production. He stated that with a growing population, a 70 percent increase in food production will be necessary by 2050.</p>
<p>Marelli is in the process of creating biofertilizers that can work with the plant, to boost germination and overcome environmental stressors such as pests, disease, heat waves, and drought.</p>
<p>Manal Mhada, a postdoc from UM6P, presented her research on precision agriculture, and the efficient use of seeds and fertilizers. Her work focuses on human-centered solutions for Moroccan communities, and includes local farmers in her research projects.</p>
<p>Mhada conducts close studies of the crop quinoa, with the intention of introducing it to Morocco in order to provide food and nutritional security. She acknowledges that climate change threatens agriculture, food security, and peace, but emphasizes that “big problems allow for immense opportunity.”</p>
<p>Resilience became a common thread throughout the conference. Hassan Radoine, director of the School of Architecture and Design at UM6P, urges for a paradigm shift, explaining how most people perceive Africa as poor.</p>
<p>“What is resilience? The responsiveness to risk and inventing new solutions. The reconstructing of a community or a place, is resilience,” Radoine said.</p>
<p>Echoing this, Remy Sietchiping, UN-Habitat leader of regional and metropolitan planning, outlined the urban agenda of creating smart cities that encompass adaptability and most importantly, resilience.</p>
<p>“You cannot buy sustainability,” Randoine said.</p>
<p>During the last session of the conference, gears shifted towards the “smart chemistry” projects, which work closely with Moroccan company, OCP, the leading supplier of phosphate rock in the world. Paul M Cook Career Development Assistant Professor Yogeth Surendranath of the MIT Department of Chemistry presented on the natural resource, phosphorous, which is abundant to Morocco.</p>
<p>However, the process of creating phosphate products demands an incredible amount of energy. Surendranath’s research is targeted at elucidating the process of electrochemical phosphate reduction in molten salts, in order to lower economic and environmental costs, and advance Morocco in the chemical markets.</p>
<p>Henry Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry Christopher Cummins’ project is also working with phosphate, and has successfully created a new method for the synthesis of phosphorous. The method utilizes a “wet process,” which enables the reduction of energy inputs, waste, and overall harm to the environment.</p>
<p>Following Cummins, Professor Paul Barton of the Department of Chemistry, discussed his project on optimal industrial symbiosis for the Jorf Lasfar platform, the phosphate mineral processing facility in Morocco. Barton is studying ways to optimize the phosphate resource, to generate returns on investment while also being mindful of energy and water consumption.</p>
<p>Throughout the afternoon, goals for the future were at the forefront of everyone’s mind. UMRP aims to continue to conduct impactful research, tackle developmental challenges, and build a strong foundation for UM6P.</p>
<p>“This conference provided a wonderful platform for UMRP to showcase their projects, build a community with UM6P and other colleagues, and help the growing institutional commitment of MIT to engage fruitfully in a future of sustainable development for Africa,” said UMRP Executive Director Kurt Sternlof.</p>
<p>It was evident that the MIT faculty-led research is results-driven and exhibits a strong vision of a sustainable future. The idea that UMRP research projects develop small solutions to make big impacts, became a recurring element of the conference.</p>
<p>“Whether discussing urban metabolism, industrial symbiosis, chemical processing or the hydrological cycle, the common theme of recognizing and optimizing closed loops of resource use — circular economies of production, consumption and renewal — was clear and compelling, and therein beats the heart of sustainability,” Sternlof said.</p>
Hassan Radoine, director of the School of Architecture and Design at UM6P, presents at MIT on African urbanization.Photo: Taylor De LeonSpecial events and guest speakers, Sustainability, Agriculture, Africa, Climate change, Civil and environmental engineering, Chemistry, Architecture, Chemical engineering, School of Science, School of Engineering, School of Architecture and Planning, DevelopmentSchool of Engineering third quarter 2018 awardshttps://news.mit.edu/2018/school-engineering-third-quarter-awards-1019
Faculty members recognized for excellence via a diverse array of honors, grants, and prizes over the last quarter.Fri, 19 Oct 2018 13:50:01 -0400School of Engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/school-engineering-third-quarter-awards-1019<p>Members of the MIT engineering faculty receive many&nbsp;awards in recognition of their scholarship, service, and overall excellence. Every quarter, the School of Engineering publicly recognizes&nbsp;their achievements by highlighting the&nbsp;honors, prizes, and medals won by faculty working in our academic departments, labs, and centers.</p>
<p>Anant Agarwal, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, <a href="https://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/announcements/anant-agarwal-professor-eecs-and-ceo-edx-wins-yidan-prize">won the 2018 Yidan Prize for Educational Development Laureate</a> on Sept. 15.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Angela Belcher, of the departments of Materials Science and Engineering&nbsp;and Biological Engineering, <a href="https://www.xconomy.com/boston/2018/07/18/introducing-the-2018-innovation-at-the-intersection-award-finalists/">won the Xconomy Award for Innovation at the Intersection</a> on July 18.</p>
<p>Martin Bazant, of the departments of Chemical Engineering and Mathematics, <a href="https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/">became a fellow of the American Physical Society</a> on Sept. 26.</p>
<p>Svetlana Boriskina, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was <a href="https://www.osa.org/en-us/about_osa/leadership_and_volunteers/election/">elected to the Optical Society Board of Directors</a> on Sept. 18.</p>
<p>Richard Braatz, of the Department of Chemical Engineering, was <a href="https://www.aiche.org/community/sites/fellows">named a fellow of American Institute of Chemical Engineers</a> on Aug. 3.</p>
<p>Marty Culpepper, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was named the Class of 1960 Fellow on Sept. 21.</p>
<p>Luca Daniel, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the&nbsp;Research Lab of Electronics, won the Best Paper Award for the IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging, and Manufacturing Technologies on Aug. 13.</p>
<p>Constantinos Daskalakis, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, <a href="https://www.simonsfoundation.org/mathematics-physical-sciences/simons-investigators/simons-investigators-awardees/">won the Simons Investigator Award in Theoretical Computer Science</a> from the Simons Foundation on July 1; he also <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2018/constantinos-daskalakis-wins-prestigious-nevanlinna-prize-0801">won the Rolf Nevanlinna Prize</a> from the International Mathematics Union on Aug. 1.</p>
<p>Domitilla Del Vecchio, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=296660&amp;org=NSF&amp;from=news">won the National Science Foundation Understanding the Rules of Life Award</a> on Sept. 21.</p>
<p>Srini Devadas, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, <a href="http://ieee-cas.org/charles-desoer-technical-achievement-award-recipients">won the Charles A. Desoer Technical Achievement Award</a> of IEEE Circuits and Systems on July 1.</p>
<p>Piotr Indyk, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, was <a href="https://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/announcements/piotr-indyk-named-thomas-d-and-virginia-w-cabot-professorship">appointed as the Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Professor</a> on Sept. 13.</p>
<p>Lynn W. Gelhar, of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, <a href="https://www.aihydrology.org/awards">won the Charles V. Theis Award</a> on Aug. 1.</p>
<p>Polina Golland, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, was <a href="https://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/announcements/polina-golland-named-henry-ellis-warren-1894-chair">named the Henry Ellis Warren (1894) Chair</a> on Sept. 13.</p>
<p>Martha Gray, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, <a href="http://imes.mit.edu/imes-faculty-dr-martha-gray-received-2018-issste-memorial-award/">won the Civil Servants Social Security and Services Institute Memorial Award</a> on June 12.</p>
<p>Charles Harvey, of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, <a href="https://eapsweb.mit.edu/news/2018/emanuel-named-2018-agu-fellow">was awarded an AGU Fellowship</a> on Aug. 9.</p>
<p>Asegun Henry, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, <a href="https://www.asme.org/about-asme/participate/honors-awards/achievement-awards/bergles-rohsenow-young-investigator-award-in-heat">won the 2018 Bergles-Rohsenow Young Investigator Award in Heat Transfer</a> on Aug. 28.</p>
<p>Jeffrey A. Hoffman, of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics,&nbsp;<a href="http://ase2018.by/en/">won the Best Technical Paper Award</a> at the 31st Annual Congress of the Association of Space Explorers on Sept. 14.</p>
<p>Qing Hu, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Research Lab of Electronics, <a href="http://www.irmmw-thz.org/kjb-winners">won the Kenneth J Button Prize</a> at the International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves on Sept. 14.</p>
<p>Klavs Jensen, of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, was <a href="https://www.aiche.org/about/press/releases/08-21-2018/klavs-jensen-selected-aiches-prausnitz-institute-lecturer-2018">named the 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Prausnitz Institute Lecturer</a> on Aug. 21.</p>
<p>Robert S. Langer, of the Department of Chemical Engineering, was awarded honorary foctorates from the University of Limerick in Ireland and from Université Laval in Canada; he also won the Leadership Award for Historic Scientific Advancement from the American Chemical Society, the 2018 Leadership Award for Historic Scientific Advancement from the American Chemical Society, and the 2018 Alpha Omega Dental Fraternity Achievement Medal Award; in addition, he was inducted into Advanced Materials Hall of Fame on Aug. 1.</p>
<p>Charles Leiserson, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, <a href="https://www.sigcomm.org/content/sigcomm-networking-systems-award">won the Association for Computing Machinery SIGCOMM Networking Systems Award</a> on Aug. 28.</p>
<p>Aleksander Madry, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, <a href="https://eatcs.org/index.php/component/content/article/1-news/2703-presburger-award-2018-">won the Presburger Award for Young Scientists</a> from the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science on July 13.</p>
<p>Tom Magnanti, of the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, was <a href="https://lids.mit.edu/news-and-events/news/thomas-magnanti-honored-singapores-national-day-award">honored with Singapore’s National Day Award</a> on Aug. 17.</p>
<p>Heidi Nepf, of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was <a href="https://eapsweb.mit.edu/news/2018/emanuel-named-2018-agu-fellow">awarded an AGU Fellowship</a> on Aug. 9.</p>
<p>Dava Newman, of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, won the 2018 Lowell Thomas Award on July 11.</p>
<p>Asu Ozdaglar, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, <a href="https://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/announcements/asu-ozdaglar-named-school-engineering-distinguished-professor-engineering">was named the School of Engineering Distinguished Professor of Engineering</a> on Sept. 13.</p>
<p>Pablo Parrilo, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was <a href="https://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/announcements/pablo-parrilo-named-joseph-f-and-nancy-p-keithley-professorship">named the Joseph F. and Nancy P. Keithley Professor</a> on Sept. 13.</p>
<p>Alberto Rodriguez, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, <a href="https://www.amazonrobotics.com/site/binaries/content/assets/amazonrobotics/pdfs/ar-best-paper-announcement.pdf">won the Amazon Robotics Best Systems Paper Award in Manipulation</a> on Sept. 14.</p>
<p>Hadley Sikes, of the Department of Chemical Engineering, was <a href="http://acsbiot.org/index.php/2018-best-biot/">awarded the 2018 Best of BIOT (ACS Division of Biochemical Technology) Award</a> on Sept. 25.</p>
<p>Michael Strano, of the Department of Chemical Engineering and the MIT Energy Initiative, <a href="http://energy.mit.edu/news/u-s-department-of-energy-to-fund-energy-frontier-research-center-at-mit/">will lead the new Energy Frontier Research Center to be established at MIT</a> on June 29.</p>
<p>Russell Tedrake, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, <a href="https://connection.sagepub.com/blog/sage-connection/2018/07/06/introducing-the-international-journal-of-robotics-paper-of-the-year-award/">won the International Journal of Robotics Inaugural Paper of the Year Award</a> on July 6.</p>
<p>John Tsitsiklis, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Athens University of Economics and Business; he also <a href="https://lids.mit.edu/news-and-events/news/john-tsitsiklis-named-winner-2018-ieee-control-systems-award">won the IEEE Control Systems Award</a> on June 30.</p>
<p>Dennis Whyte, of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and the Plasma Science and Fusion Center, <a href="https://fusionpower.org/Awards.html">won the Fusion Power Associates Leadership Award</a> on Sept. 25.</p>
<p>Gregory Wornell, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Research Lab of Electronics, <a href="https://signalprocessingsociety.org/newsletter/2018/07/2019-ieee-technical-field-award-recipients-announced">won the IEEE Leon K. Kirchmayer Graduate Teaching Award</a> on Sept. 19.</p>
<p>Xuanhe Zhao, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, <a href="https://www.materialstoday.com/rising-stars-2018/">won the Materials Today Rising Star Award</a> on Sept. 19.</p>
Photo: Lillie Paquette/School of EngineeringAwards, honors and fellowships, Biological engineering, Aeronautical and astronautical engineering, Chemical engineering, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs), Mechanical engineering, Civil and environmental engineering, DMSE, Nuclear science and engineering, IDSS, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Mathematics, Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT Energy Initiative, School of Science, School of EngineeringTranslating research into impacthttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-fourth-tata-center-symposium-highlights-need-translate-research-into-impact-1017
Fourth annual Tata Center Symposium highlights the need to invest in technologies for the developing world from a market-driven perspective.Wed, 17 Oct 2018 12:40:00 -0400Shivangi Misra | Tata Center for Technology and Designhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-fourth-tata-center-symposium-highlights-need-translate-research-into-impact-1017<p>The MIT Tata Center for Technology and Design&nbsp;has funded upwards of 100 projects since its inception,&nbsp;and finds itself at a crucial juncture of identifying market opportunities for some of its advanced-stage projects that require further support in order to be turned into profitable social enterprises.</p>
<p>The Tata Center was&nbsp;first established at MIT six years ago&nbsp;by a generous donation provided by one of India’s oldest philanthropic organizations, Tata Trusts. With several advanced-stage projects now in the pipeline, the center’s leadership recognized a need to answer a fundamental question: How can the Tata Center provide further support, and what might&nbsp;that&nbsp;support look like, to research projects that have reached a state of maturity?</p>
<p>The center's recently-concluded fourth annual symposium and workshop, a two-day event hosted at the Samberg Conference Center titled “Translating Research into Impact,”&nbsp;aimed to do just that.</p>
<p>“This is a preoccupation for us. We’re no longer looking for things to do, we’ve found things to do. And we’ve brought technologies to a point at which they’re ready to go out into the world in the form of helpful products and services,” Tata Center Director Rob Stoner said as he welcomed students, industry partners, faculty, non-governmental organization representatives, and government officials from both India and the U.S. to the conference. “So, our focus has become&nbsp;translation —&nbsp;handing off technologies that may have reached the prototype or demonstration stage at MIT to entrepreneurial firms, government agencies, NGOs —&nbsp;anyone who has the vision and commitment to bring them to scale in India.&nbsp;It takes a focused effort to do that successfully.”</p>
<p>Stoner was&nbsp;joined at the conference by Manoj Kumar, head of entrepreneurship and innovations at Tata Trusts and Maurizio Vecchione, the executive vice presdient of&nbsp;Global Good and Research, which is a collaboration between Intellectual Ventures and the Gates Foundation.</p>
<p>In his&nbsp;opening keynote address, The Power of Developing World Technology: Reverse Innovation, Vecchione stressed the importance of investing in technologies for the developing world from a market-driven perspective. Focusing on the health care sector, Vecchione emphasized the need to dramatically increase research and development budgets targeted toward finding solutions for diseases like HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis in the developing world. The world’s population, primarily led by developing countries like China, India, Nigeria, and Mexico, is projected to reach 9 billion by 2040.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The keynote was followed by a panel on scaling social enterprises with Jessica Alderman, the director of communications for&nbsp;Envirofit International;&nbsp;Alex Eaton, CEO of Sistema Biobolsa and Charity;&nbsp;and Manoj Sinha, CEO of&nbsp;Husk Power Systems. One of the core issues that emerged during the panel was the perceived dichotomy of impact versus profit.</p>
<p>“The idea of profit is important. And profit is absolutely tied to impact,” Alderman said.&nbsp;“You will have a short-lived company if you don’t have a solid way of getting to profit.”</p>
<p>Symposium attendees were also introduced to new Tata Center startups and multiple advanced-stage projects working on techologies including:</p>
<ul>
<li>urine-based tuberculosis diagnostics;</li>
<li>affordable silicon-based nanofiltration;</li>
<li>accessible intraperitoneal chemotherapy devices;</li>
<li>intelligence deployment to improve agri-supply chains; and</li>
<li>photovoltaic-powered village-scale desalination systems.</li>
</ul>
<p>The first day came to a close with a&nbsp;fireside chat with Ernest Moniz, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems Emeritus&nbsp;and former U.S.&nbsp;Secretary of Energy, followed by a town hall on funding social innovations with Ann Dewitt, COO of The Engine, Barry Johnson of the National Science Foundation, and Harkesh Kumar Mittal from&nbsp;India’s Department of Science and Technology.</p>
<p>On the second day of the conference, Ann Mei Chang, the author of&nbsp;“Lean Impact” and former chief innovation officer at USAID, delivered an inspiring keynote address on the importance of thinking big, starting small, and pursuing impact relentlessly.</p>
<p>This second day was dedicated to parallel sectorial workshops on Tata Center’s six focus areas:&nbsp;housing, health, agriculture, energy, environment, and water. Workshop participants included faculty from MIT, the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, Tata Fellows, active Tata Center collaborators,&nbsp;industry representatives, and&nbsp;representatives of some of India’s most influential NGOs.</p>
<p>“So many projects end up not leaving the institution because of gaps in our support ecosystem,”&nbsp;Stoner said, drawing the event to a close. “We’re determined at the Tata Center not to let that happen with our projects by filling those gaps.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>The MIT Tata Center’s efforts to build connections in the developing world are linked to MIT’s broader campaign to engage with global challenges, and to translate innovative research into entrepreneurial impact. That work continues year-round. The next Tata Center Symposium will be held at MIT on Sept.&nbsp;12&nbsp;and 13, 2019.</p>
A panel discusses Scaling Social Enterprises at the fourth annual Tata Center Symposium.Photo: Kelley Travers/MIT Energy InitiativeWater, Health, Environment, Housing, Architecture, MIT Sloan School of Management, Mechanical engineering, Chemical engineering, Collaboration, International development, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E), Developing countries, India, Special events and guest speakers, School of Engineering, MIT Energy InitiativeProbiotics and antibiotics create a killer combinationhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/probiotics-antibiotics-kill-drug-resistant-bacteria-1017
Delivered together, the two join forces to eradicate drug-resistant bacteria.Wed, 17 Oct 2018 10:22:34 -0400Anne Trafton | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/probiotics-antibiotics-kill-drug-resistant-bacteria-1017<p>In the fight against drug-resistant bacteria, MIT researchers have enlisted the help of beneficial bacteria known as probiotics.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adma.201803925" target="_blank">a new study</a>, the researchers showed that by delivering a combination of antibiotic drugs and probiotics, they could eradicate two strains of drug-resistant bacteria that often infect wounds. To achieve this, they encapsulated the probiotic bacteria in a protective shell of alginate, a biocompatible material that prevents the probiotics from being killed by the antibiotic.</p>
<p>“There are so many bacteria now that are resistant to antibiotics, which is a serious problem for human health. We think one way to treat them is by encapsulating a live probiotic and letting it do its job,” says Ana Jaklenec, a research scientist at MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and one of the senior authors of the study.</p>
<p>If shown to be successful in future tests in animals and humans, the probiotic/antibiotic combination could be incorporated into dressings for wounds, where it could help heal infected chronic wounds, the researchers say.</p>
<p>Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor and a member of the Koch Institute, is also a senior author of the paper, which appears in the journal <em>Advanced Materials</em> on Oct. 17. Zhihao Li, a former MIT visiting scientist, is the study’s lead author.</p>
<p><strong>Bacteria wars</strong></p>
<p>The human body contains trillions of bacterial cells, many of which are beneficial. In some cases, these bacteria help fend off infection by secreting antimicrobial peptides and other compounds that kill pathogenic strains of bacteria. Others outcompete harmful strains by taking up nutrients and other critical resources.</p>
<p>Scientists have previously tested the idea of applying probiotics to chronic wounds, and they’ve had some success in studies of patients with burns, Li says. However, the probiotic strains usually can’t combat all of the bacteria that would be found in an infected wound. Combining these strains with traditional antibiotics would help to kill more of the pathogenic bacteria, but the antibiotic would likely also kill off the probiotic bacteria.</p>
<p>The MIT team devised a way to get around this problem by encapsulating the probiotic bacteria so that they would not be affected by the antibiotic. They chose alginate in part because it is already used in dressings for chronic wounds, where it helps to absorb secretions and keep the wound dry. Additionally, the researchers also found that alginate is a component of the biofilms that clusters of bacteria form to protect themselves from antibiotics.</p>
<p>“We looked into the molecular components of biofilms and we found that for <em>Pseudomonas</em> infection, alginate is very important for its resistance against antibiotics,” Li says. “However, so far no one has used this ability to protect good bacteria from antibiotics.”</p>
<p>For this study, the researchers chose to encapsulate a type of commercially available probiotic known as Bio-K+, which consists of three strains of <em>Lactobacillus</em> bacteria. These strains are known to kill methicillin-resistant <em>Staphylococcus aureus </em>(MRSA). The exact mechanism by which they do this is not known, but one possibility is that the pathogens are susceptible to lactic acid produced by the probiotics. Another possibility is that the probiotics secrete antimicrobial peptides or other proteins that kill the pathogens or disrupt their ability to form biofilms.</p>
<p>The researchers delivered the encapsulated probiotics along with an antibiotic called tobramycin, which they chose among other tested antibiotics because it effectively kills <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</em>, another strain commonly found in wound infections. When MRSA and <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</em> growing in a lab dish were exposed to the combination of encapsulated Bio-K+ and tobramycin, all of the pathogenic bacteria were wiped out.</p>
<p>“It was quite a drastic effect,” Jaklenec says. “It completely eradicated the bacteria.”</p>
<p>When they tried the same experiment with nonencapsulated probiotics, the probiotics were killed by the antibiotics, allowing the MRSA bacteria to survive.</p>
<p>“When we just used one component, either antibiotics or probiotics, they couldn’t eradicate all the pathogens. That’s something which can be very important in clinical settings where you have wounds with different bacteria, and antibiotics are not enough to kill all the bacteria,” Li says.</p>
<p><strong>Better wound healing</strong></p>
<p>The researchers envision that this approach could be used to develop new types of bandages or other wound dressings embedded with antibiotics and alginate-encapsulated probiotics. Before that can happen, they plan to further test the approach in animals and possibly in humans.</p>
<p>“The good thing about alginate is it’s FDA-approved, and the probiotic we use is approved as well,” Li says. “I think probiotics can be something that may revolutionize wound treatment in the future. With our work, we have expanded the application possibilities of probiotics.”</p>
<p>In a study published in 2016, the researchers demonstrated that coating probiotics with layers of alginate and another polysaccharide called chitosan could protect them from being broken down in the gastrointestinal tract. This could help researchers develop ways to treat disease or improve digestion with orally delivered probiotics. Another potential application is using these probiotics to replenish the gut microbiome after treatment with antibiotics, which can wipe out beneficial bacteria at the same time that they clear up an infection.</p>
<p>Li’s work on this project was funded by the Swiss Janggen-Poehn Foundation and by Beatrice Beck-Schimmer and Hans-Ruedi Gonzenbach.</p>
MIT chemical engineers have devised a way to encapsulate probiotics so that they can be delivered along with antibiotics to kill multiple strains of bacteria.Image: Ryan AllenResearch, Chemical engineering, Microbes, Antibiotics, Koch Institute, School of EngineeringCollaboration runs through J-WAFS-funded projects https://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-collaboration-runs-through-j-wafs-funded-research-projects-1016
Researchers from across MIT showcase J-WAFS-funded projects tackling critical water and food systems challenges from solutions-oriented perspectives.Tue, 16 Oct 2018 10:50:00 -0400Andi Sutton | Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Labhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-collaboration-runs-through-j-wafs-funded-research-projects-1016<p>“In order to do the kind and scale of work that we do, international collaboration is essential.&nbsp;However, this can be difficult to fund,”&nbsp;Chris Voigt said.&nbsp;“J-WAFS is providing the support that we need for the cross-institutional and cross-sector collaboration that is enabling our work to move forward.”</p>
<p>Voigt, a professor in the MIT Department of Biological Engineering, made those comments at the first of two research workshops produced by the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS) on Sept.&nbsp;14th and Sept.&nbsp;28th at the&nbsp;Samberg Center.&nbsp;The&nbsp;annual workshop brings members of the MIT community together to learn about the latest research results from J-WAFS-funded teams, to hear about newly funded projects, and to provide feedback on each other’s work.</p>
<p>The specific collaboration Voigt was referring to is a project that connects the work &nbsp;on prokaryotic gene clusters in&nbsp;his lab to research at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Germany and&nbsp;the Center for Plant Biotechnology and Genomics at the Universidad Politécnica in Spain. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Voigt and experts in plastid engineering and plant gene expression from these partnering institutions are working to engineer cereal grains to produce their own nitrogen, eliminating the need for added fertilizer.&nbsp;Their goal is to transform farming at every scale — reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of industrial fertilizer production as well as problems of eutrophication from nutrient run-off and reducing the cost of added nitrogen fertilizer.&nbsp;With a growing world population and increasing demand for grain as a food and fuel, the need for innovations in agricultural technologies is&nbsp;urgent,&nbsp;yet the technical challenges are steep&nbsp;and often require complementary areas of expertise.&nbsp;Therefore, when&nbsp;researchers like Voightshare their skills and resources with other global experts in pursuit of a shared goal, the combined effort has the potential to produce dramatic results.</p>
<p>The collaboration&nbsp;is a hallmark of MIT’s research culture.&nbsp;J-WAFS seeks to leverage that collaboration&nbsp;by being particularly welcoming of cross-disciplinary project proposals and research teams. In fact, the majority of J-WAFS current and concluding projects are led by two or more principal investigators, with many of those teams being cross-disciplinary. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>In the case of a J-WAFS Solutions-funded project led by principal investigators Timothy Swager and Alexander Klibanov from the Department of Chemistry, interdisciplinary collaboration grew as the work on the project progressed.&nbsp;The team is developing a handheld food safety sensor that uses specialized droplets — called Janus emulsions — to test for bacterial contamination in food.&nbsp;The&nbsp;droplets behave like a dynamic lens, changing in the presence of specific bacteria.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In developing optical systems that can indicate the presence or absence of bacteria, including salmonella, by analyzing the light either transmitted through or emanating from these dynamic lenses, the researchers realized that they did not have the expertise to fully understand the optics they observed when the droplets were exposed to light. For that, they needed help. Swager reached out to Mathias Kolle, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, whose expertise in optical materials proved to be key.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Kolle, who has received J-WAFS seed funding for his own work on industrial algae production, and his graduate student Sara Nagelberg provided the calculations necessary to understand the mechanics of light’s interaction with the particles.&nbsp;These insights contributed to sensor designs that were dramatically more effective, and the team has now launched a startup — Xibus Systems — and is currently working on product development.&nbsp;</p>
<p>“This is the beginning of a much longer story for us,” Swager commented, reflecting on his collaboration with Kolle’s lab.</p>
<p>Several other research teams are applying multiple disciplinary perspectives to their work.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In one project, Evelyn Wang, the Gail E. Kendall Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has teamed up with Mircea Dincă, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry, to engineer highly absorbent metal organic frameworks&nbsp;in a device that pulls drinking water from air.</p>
<p>In another, assistant professor David Des Marais in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is collaborating with Caroline Uhler, the Henry L. and Grace Doherty Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, to develop tools to analyze and understand the ways that genes regulate plants’ responses to environmental stressors such as drought.&nbsp;Their goal is to apply this understanding to better breed and engineer stress-tolerant plants so that crop yields can improve even as climate change creates more extreme growing conditions.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, J-WAFS itself collaborated with a partner program in organizing the event.&nbsp;The second day of the workshop coincided with the&nbsp;Tata Center’s annual research symposium, which was&nbsp;also held at the Samberg Center.&nbsp;J-WAFS and Tata’s missions have some significant overlaps —&nbsp;many Tata-funded MIT projects address food, water, and agriculture challenges in the developing world.&nbsp;The two groups merged audiences for their afternoon sessions and presentations to take&nbsp;advantage of these synergies, enabling participants of each event to interact and to learn about the food and water innovations that the programs are supporting.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>By funding research in all schools at MIT and seeding and supporting innovative collaboration that crosses departments and schools alikeJ-WAFS seeks to advance research that can provide answers to what might be one of the most pressing questions of our time: How do we ensure safe and resilient supplies of water and food on our changing planet, now and in the future?&nbsp;When experts come together around an urgent question like this one, each one approaches&nbsp;it from a different angle. And when successes emerge&nbsp;from collaborations in J-WAFS-funded projects, it demonstrate sthe value of MIT’s culture of interdisciplinary collaboration.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
Christopher Voigt, a professor of biological engineering, presents the latest research results for a J-WAFS-funded project that seeks to engineer cereal grains to produce their own fertilizer. Photo: Andi Sutton/J-WAFSSchool of Science, Chemistry, Mechanical engineering, Civil and environmental engineering, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs), Water, Food, Agriculture, Climate change, Chemical engineering, Urban studies and planning, Bioengineering and biotechnology, Grants, Research, Collaboration, J-WAFSSelf-healing material can build itself from carbon in the airhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/self-healing-material-carbon-air-1011
Taking a page from green plants, new polymer “grows” through a chemical reaction with carbon dioxide.Thu, 11 Oct 2018 00:00:00 -0400David L. Chandler | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/self-healing-material-carbon-air-1011<p>A material designed by MIT chemical engineers can react with carbon dioxide from the air, to grow, strengthen, and even repair itself. The polymer, which might someday be used as construction or repair material or for protective coatings, continuously converts the greenhouse gas into a carbon-based material that reinforces itself.</p>
<p>The current version of the new material is a synthetic gel-like substance that performs a chemical process similar to the way plants incorporate carbon dioxide from the air into their growing tissues. The material might, for example, be made into panels of a lightweight matrix that could be shipped to a construction site, where they would harden and solidify just from exposure to air and sunlight, thereby saving on the energy and cost of transportation.</p>
<p>The finding is described in a paper in the journal <em>Advanced Materials</em>, by Professor Michael Strano, postdoc Seon-Yeong Kwak, and eight others at MIT and at the University of California at Riverside</p>
<p>“This is a completely new concept in materials science,” says Strano, the Carbon C. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering. “What we call carbon-fixing materials don’t exist yet today” outside of the biological realm, he says, describing materials that can transform carbon dioxide in the ambient air into a solid, stable form, using only the power of sunlight, just as plants do.</p>
<p>Developing a synthetic material that not only avoids the use of fossil fuels for its creation, but actually consumes carbon dioxide from the air, has obvious benefits for the environment and climate, the researchers point out. “Imagine a synthetic material that could grow like trees, taking the carbon from the carbon dioxide and incorporating it into the material’s backbone,” Strano says.</p>
<p>The material the team used in these initial proof-of-concept experiments did make use of one biological component — chloroplasts, the light-harnessing components within plant cells, which the researchers obtained from spinach leaves. The chloroplasts are not alive but catalyze the reaction of carbon dioxide to glucose. Isolated chloroplasts are quite unstable, meaning that they tend to stop functioning after a few hours when removed from the plant. In their paper, Strano and his co-workers demonstrate methods to significantly increase the catalytic lifetime of extracted chloroplasts. In ongoing and future work, the chloroplast is being replaced by catalysts that are nonbiological in origin, Strano explains.</p>
<p>The material the researchers used, a gel matrix composed of a polymer made from aminopropyl methacrylamide (APMA) and glucose, an enzyme called glucose oxidase, and the chloroplasts, becomes stronger as it incorporates the carbon. It is not yet strong enough to be used as a building material, though it might function as a crack filling or coating material, the researchers say.</p>
<p>The team has worked out methods to produce materials of this type by the ton, and is now focusing on optimizing the material’s properties. Commercial applications such as self-healing coatings and crack filling are realizable in the near term, they say, whereas additional advances in backbone chemistry and materials science are needed before construction materials and composites can be developed.</p>
<p>One key advantage of such materials is they would be self-repairing upon exposure to sunlight or some indoor lighting, Strano says. If the surface is scratched or cracked, the affected area grows to fill in the gaps and repair the damage, without requiring any external action.</p>
<p>While there has been widespread effort to develop self-healing materials that could mimic this ability of biological organisms, the researchers say, these have all required an active outside input to function. Heating, UV light, mechanical stress, or chemical treatment were needed to activate the process. By contrast, these materials need nothing but ambient light, and they incorporate mass from carbon in the atmosphere, which is ubiquitous.</p>
<p>The material starts out as a liquid, Kwak says, adding, “it is exciting to watch it as it starts to grow and cluster” into a solid form.</p>
<p>“Materials science has never produced anything like this,” Strano says. “These materials mimic some aspects of something living, even though it’s not reproducing.” Because the finding opens up a wide array of possible follow-up research, the U.S. Department of Energy is sponsoring a new program directed by Strano to develop it further.</p>
<p>“Our work shows that carbon dioxide need not be purely a burden and a cost,” Strano says. “It is also an opportunity in this respect. There’s carbon everywhere. We build the world with carbon. Humans are made of carbon. Making a material that can access the abundant carbon all around us is a significant opportunity for materials science. In this way, our work is about making materials that are not just carbon neutral, but carbon negative.”</p>
<p>The research team included Juan Pablo Giraldo at UC Riverside, and Tedrick Lew, Min Hao Wong, Pingwei Liu, Yun Jung Yang, Volodomyr Koman, Melissa McGee and Bradley Olsen at MIT. The work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.</p>
Diagrams illustrate the self-healing properties of the new material. At top, a crack is created in the material, which is composed of a hydrogel (dark green) with plant-derived chloroplasts (light green) embedded in it. At bottom, in the presence of light, the material reacts with carbon dioxide in the air to expand and fill the gap, repairing the damage.Courtesy of the researchersResearch, School of Engineering, Chemical engineering, Nanoscience and nanotechnology, Department of Energy (DoE), Greenhouse gases, Carbon dioxide, Emissions, Global Warming, Climate change, DMSE, CarbonA new way to manufacture small batches of biopharmaceuticals on demandhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/manufacture-small-batches-biopharmaceuticals-demand-1001
System can be rapidly reconfigured to produce a variety of protein drugs.Mon, 01 Oct 2018 11:00:00 -0400Anne Trafton | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/manufacture-small-batches-biopharmaceuticals-demand-1001<p>Biopharmaceuticals, a class of drugs comprising proteins such as antibodies and hormones, represent a fast-growing sector of the pharmaceutical industry. They’re increasingly important for “precision medicine” — drugs tailored toward the genetic or molecular profiles of particular groups of patients.</p>
<p>Such drugs are normally manufactured at large facilities dedicated to a single product, using processes that are difficult to reconfigure. This rigidity means that manufacturers tend to focus on drugs needed by many patients, while drugs that could help smaller populations of patients may not be made.</p>
<p>To help make more of these drugs available, MIT researchers have developed a new way to rapidly manufacture biopharmaceuticals on demand. Their system can be easily reconfigured to produce different drugs, enabling flexible switching between products as they are needed.</p>
<p>“Traditional&nbsp;biomanufacturing relies on unique processes for each new molecule that is produced,” says J. Christopher Love, a professor of chemical engineering at MIT and a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. “We’ve demonstrated a single hardware configuration that can produce different recombinant proteins in a fully automated, hands-free manner.”</p>
<p>The researchers have used this manufacturing system, which can fit on a lab benchtop, to produce three different biopharmaceuticals, and showed that they are of comparable quality to commercially available versions.</p>
<p>Love is the senior author of the study, which appears in the XX issue of the journal <em>Nature Biotechnology</em>. The paper’s lead authors are graduate students Laura Crowell and Amos Lu, and research scientist Kerry Routenberg Love.</p>
<p><strong>A streamlined process</strong></p>
<p>Biopharmaceuticals, which usually have to be injected, are often used to treat cancer, as well as other diseases including cardiovascular disease and autoimmune disorders. Most of these drugs are produced in “bioreactors” where bacteria, yeast, or mammalian cells churn out large quantities of a single drug. These drugs must be purified before use, so the entire production process can include dozens of steps, many of which require human intervention. As a result, it can take weeks to months to produce a single batch of a drug.</p>
<p>The MIT team wanted to come up with a more agile system that could be easily reprogrammed to rapidly produce a variety of different drugs on demand. They also wanted to create a system that would require very little human oversight while maintaining the high quality of protein required for use in patients.</p>
<p>“Our goal was to make the entire process automated, so once you set up our system, you press ‘go’ and then you come back a few days later and there’s purified, formulated drug waiting for you,” Crowell says.</p>
<p>One key element of the new system is that the researchers used a different type of cell in their bioreactors — a strain of yeast called <em>Pichia pastoris</em>. Yeast can begin producing proteins much faster than mammalian cells, and they can grow to higher population densities. Additionally, <em>Pichia pastoris</em> secretes only about 150 to 200 proteins of its own, compared to about 2,000 for Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, which are often used for biopharmaceutical production. This makes the purification process for drugs produced by <em>Pichia pastoris</em> much simpler.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The researchers also greatly reduced the size of the manufacturing system, with the ultimate goal of making it portable. Their system consists of three connected modules: the bioreactor, where yeast produce the desired protein; a purification module, where the drug molecule is separated from other proteins using chromatography; and a module in which the protein drug is suspended in a buffer that preserves it until it reaches the patient.</p>
<p>In this study, the researchers used their new technology to produce three different drugs: human growth hormone; interferon alpha 2b, which is used to treat cancer; and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF), which is used to boost the immune systems of patients receiving chemotherapy.</p>
<p>They found that for all three molecules, the drugs produced with the new process had the same biochemical and biophysical traits as the commercially manufactured versions. The GCSF product behaved comparably to a licensed product from Amgen when tested in animals.</p>
<p>Reconfiguring the system to produce a different drug requires simply giving the yeast the genetic sequence for the new protein and replacing certain modules for purification. With colleagues at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the researchers also designed software that helps to come up with a new purification process for each drug they want to produce. Using this approach, they can come up with a new procedure and begin manufacturing a new drug within about three months. In contrast, developing a new industrial manufacturing process can take 18 to 24 months.</p>
<p><strong>Decentralized manufacturing</strong></p>
<p>The ease with which the system switches between production of different drugs could enable many different applications. For one, it could be useful for producing drugs to treat rare diseases. Currently, such diseases have few treatments available, because it’s not worthwhile for drug companies to devote an entire factory to producing a drug that is not widely needed. With the new MIT technology, small-scale production of such drugs could be easily achieved, and the same machine could be used to produce a wide variety of such drugs.</p>
<p>Another potential use is producing small quantities of drugs needed for “precision medicine,” which involves giving patients with cancer or other diseases drugs that are specific to a genetic mutation or other feature of their particular disease. Many of these drugs are also needed in only small quantities.</p>
<p>“This paper is an important breakthrough in the possibility to produce and develop biotherapeutics at the point of care, and makes personalized medicine a reality,” says Huub Schellekens, a professor of medical biotechnology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who was not involved in the research.</p>
<p>These machines could also be deployed to regions of the world that do not have large-scale drug manufacturing facilities.</p>
<p>“Instead of centralized manufacturing, you can move to decentralized manufacturing, so you can have a couple of systems in Africa, and then it’s easier to get those drugs to those patients rather than making everything in North America, shipping it there, and trying to keep it cold,” Crowell says.</p>
<p>This type of system could also be used to rapidly produce drugs needed to respond to an outbreak such as Ebola.</p>
<p>The researchers are now working on making their device more modular and portable, as well as experimenting with producing other therapies, including vaccines. The system could also be deployed to speed up the process of developing and testing new drugs, the researchers say.</p>
<p>“You could be prototyping many different molecules because you can really build processes that are simple and fast to deploy. We could be looking in the clinic at a lot of different assets and making decisions about which ones perform the best clinically at an early stage, since we could potentially achieve the quality and quantity necessary for those studies,” Routenberg Love says.</p>
<p>The research was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific, and the Koch Institute Support (core) Grant from the National Cancer Institute.</p>
MIT chemical engineers have devised a new desktop machine that can be easily reconfigured to manufacture small amounts of different biopharmaceutical drugs.Image: Felice Frankel, Christine Daniloff, MIT Research, Medicine, Chemical engineering, Koch Institute, School of Engineering, Drug development, Pharmaceuticals, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)Plug-and-play technology automates chemical synthesishttps://news.mit.edu/2018/technology-automates-chemical-synthesis-0920
System makes it easier to produce new molecules for myriad applications.Thu, 20 Sep 2018 14:06:30 -0400Anne Trafton | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/technology-automates-chemical-synthesis-0920<p>Designing a new chemical synthesis can be a laborious process with a fair amount of drudgery involved — mixing chemicals, measuring temperatures, analyzing the results, then starting over again if it doesn’t work out.</p>
<p>MIT researchers have now developed an automated chemical synthesis system that can take over many of the more tedious aspects of chemical experimentation, freeing up chemists to spend more time on the more analytical and creative aspects of their research.</p>
<p>“Our goal was to create an easy-to-use system that would allow scientists to come up with the best conditions for making their molecules of interest — a general chemical synthesis platform with as much flexibility as possible,” says Timothy F. Jamison, head of MIT’s Department of Chemistry and one of the leaders of the research team.</p>
<p>This system could cut the amount of time required to optimize a new reaction, from weeks or months down to a single day, the researchers say. They have patented the technology and hope that it will be widely used in both academic and industrial chemistry labs.</p>
<p>“When we set out to do this, we wanted it to be something that was generally usable in the lab and not too expensive,” says Klavs F. Jensen, the Warren K. Lewis Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, who co-led the research team. “We wanted to develop technology that would make it much easier for chemists to develop new reactions.”</p>
<p>Former MIT postdoc Anne-Catherine Bédard and former MIT research associate Andrea Adamo are the lead authors of the paper, which appears in the Sept. 20 online edition of <em>Science</em>.</p>
<p><strong>Going with the flow</strong></p>
<p>The new system makes use of a type of chemical synthesis known as continuous flow. With this approach, the chemical reagents flow through a series of tubes, and new chemicals can be added at different points. Other processes such as separation can also occur as the chemicals flow through the system.</p>
<p>In contrast, traditional “batch chemistry” requires performing each step separately, and human intervention is required to move the reagents along to the next step.</p>
<p>A few years ago, Jensen and Jamison developed a continuous flow system that can rapidly produce <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2016/portable-pharmacy-on-demand-0331">pharmaceuticals on demand</a>. They then turned their attention to smaller-scale systems that could be used in research labs, in hopes of eliminating much of the repetitive manual experimentation needed to develop a new process to synthesize a particular molecule.</p>
<p>To achieve that, the team designed a plug-and-play system with several different modules that can be combined to perform different types of synthesis. Each module is about the size of a large cell phone and can be plugged into a port, just as computer components can be connected via USB ports. Some of modules perform specific reactions, such as those catalyzed by light or by a solid catalyst, while others separate out the desired products. In the current system, five of these components can be connected at once.</p>
<p>The person using the machine comes up with a plan for how to synthesize a desired molecule and then plugs in the necessary modules. The user then tells the machine what reaction conditions (temperature, concentration of reagents, flow rate, etc.) to start with. For the next day or so, the machine uses a general optimization program to explore different conditions and ultimately to determine which conditions generate the highest yield of the desired product.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, instead of manually mixing chemicals together and then isolating and testing the products, the researcher can go off to do something else.</p>
<p>“While the optimizations are being performed, the users could be talking to their colleagues about other ideas, they could be working on manuscripts, or they could be analyzing data from previous runs. In other words, doing the more human aspects of research,” Jamison says.</p>
<p><strong>Rapid testing</strong></p>
<p>In the new study, the researchers created about 50 different organic compounds, and they believe the technology could help scientists more rapidly design and produce compounds that could be tested as potential drugs or other useful products. This system should also make it easier for chemists to reproduce reactions that others have developed, without having to reoptimize every step of the synthesis.</p>
<p>“If you have a machine where you just plug in the components, and someone tries to do the same synthesis with a similar machine, they ought to be able to get the same results,” Jensen says.</p>
<p>The researchers are now working on a new version of the technology that could take over even more of the design work, including coming up with the order and type of modules to be used.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The research was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).</p>
MIT researchers have developed an automated chemical synthesis system that can take over many of the more tedious aspects of chemical experimentation, freeing up chemists to spend more time on the more analytical and creative aspects of their research.Image: Anne-Catherine Bédard edited by MIT NewsSchool of Science, School of Engineering, Research, Drug development, Pharmaceuticals, Chemistry, Chemical engineering, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)Connor Coley named a Chemical and Engineering News Talented Twelvehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-connor-coley-chemical-engineering-news-talented-twelve-0914
Chemical engineering graduate student was named a “machine-learning maestro” by the magazine.Fri, 14 Sep 2018 17:00:01 -0400Melanie Kaufman | Department of Chemical Engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-connor-coley-chemical-engineering-news-talented-twelve-0914<p>Connor Coley, currently pursuing his graduate degree in chemical engineering at MIT, has been selected as one of 2018’s “Talented Twelve” by <em>Chemical and Engineering News (C&amp;EN)</em>, the weekly magazine of the American Chemical Society. Coley was recognized for his work in “reprogramming the way chemists design drugs.”</p>
<p>Currently a member of the Klavs Jensen and William Green research groups, Coley is focused on improving automation and computer assistance in synthesis planning and reaction optimization with medicinal chemistry applications. He is more broadly interested in the design and construction of automated microfluidic platforms for analytics (e.g. kinetic or process understanding) and on-demand synthesis. Coley’s work is an integral part of the new MIT-industry consortium, Machine Learning for Pharmaceutical Discovery and Synthesis.</p>
<p>As described in <em>C&amp;EN</em>, “Machine learning aims to create artificial intelligence systems that make decisions with little intervention from people. Coley's efforts in this arena have blossomed into a collaboration between MIT and eight drug industry partners, known as the Machine Learning for Pharmaceutical Discovery and&nbsp;Synthesis Consortium. While most other chemists working in the field of machine learning and chemical synthesis use rules devised by experts to guide their systems, Coley relies on reactions in databases, such as those in U.S. patent filings, to teach the computer what transformations will and won't take place without being influenced by human bias.”</p>
<p>Earlier this year, Coley was also named a 2018 “Riser” by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).</p>
<p>To find its annual Talented Twelve, <em>C&amp;EN</em> consulted a panel of industry advisers, the publication's advisory board, and Talented Twelve alumni to nominate prospects aged 42 or younger “who are taking risks in the early stages of their career.” They also accepted nominations from readers through an online form. The team researched and evaluated more than 350 candidates before finalizing the 2018 Talented Twelve.</p>
<p>Professors Brady Olsen and Fikile Brushett, also of MIT Chemical Engineering, have previously been named to this group.</p>
Graduate student Connor Coley has been honored for his work in the field of machine learning and chemical synthesis.Image Courtesy of Connor ColeyAwards, honors and fellowships, Machine learning, Students, Chemistry, Chemical engineering, School of EngineeringSamuel Bodman, MIT Corporation member and former U.S. Secretary of Energy, dies at 79https://news.mit.edu/2018/samuel-bodman-us-secretary-energy-dies-0913
MIT alumnus and chemical engineering faculty member was a pioneering director of venture capital firms.Thu, 13 Sep 2018 10:15:00 -0400David Chandler | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/samuel-bodman-us-secretary-energy-dies-0913<p>Samuel W. Bodman III ScD ’65, a former MIT associate professor and life member emeritus of the MIT Corporation, who served as the U.S. Secretary of Energy and in other cabinet posts, died on Sept. 7 in El Paso, Texas, after a long illness. He was 79.</p>
<p>Bodman, who earned his doctoral&nbsp;degree from&nbsp;MIT in chemical engineering,&nbsp;served as Secretary of Energy in the George W. Bush administration from 2005 to 2009, after being unanimously confirmed by the Senate. He had previously served as Deputy Secretary of Treasury and Deputy Secretary of Commerce. Bush said in a prepared statement, “Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of Sam Bodman. Sam had a brilliant mind, and we are fortunate that he put his intellect to work for our country as Secretary of Energy. I am proud that he was a member of my cabinet, and I am proud that he was my friend.”</p>
<p>“Sam led an extraordinary life of leadership and service in business, academia, and government. MIT was the very fortunate beneficiary of his time, talent, and wisdom in so many different capacities over the years. We are saddened by his loss but grateful for his impact on the Institute and well beyond,” says Robert Millard, chair of the MIT Corporation.</p>
<p>Bodman was born in Chicago in 1938 and earned his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University in 1961. He then earned his ScD in chemical engineering at MIT in 1965, where he then began a six-year stint as an associate professor. He later became a station director of what is now called the David H. Koch School of Chemical Engineering Practice, and he served on a landmark commission on the future of MIT education. He became a member of the MIT Corporation, the Institute’s governing body, and served on its Executive and Investment Committees, ultimately becoming a lifetime trustee.</p>
<p>He also served on the boards of Cornell University, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the New England Aquarium, and the Carnegie Institution for Science. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.</p>
<p>His family recalls that a favorite saying of his was, “Every day is another opportunity to excel,” which he liked to say every morning, according to his stepdaughter Caroline Greene.</p>
<p>After leaving MIT, Bodman was technical director of the American Research and Development Corporation, an early venture capital firm, and from there went to Fidelity Venture Associates. He was appointed president and COO of Fidelity Investments in 1983, and also became director of the Fidelity Group of Mutual Funds.</p>
<p>In 1987, he moved to the Cabot Corporation to serve as chairman and CEO, where he served until joining the Bush administration in 2001. “His mind is extraordinarily creative and innovative. He has an ability to see things in a very broad and yet comprehensive way,” Kennett F. Burnes, who worked with Bodman at Cabot and succeeded him as the company’s chief executive, told <em>The Boston Globe</em> at the time of his appointment to be energy secretary.</p>
<p>Though he was born in Chicago and had homes in Florida and Texas as well as Martha’s Vineyard, Bodman remained an avid lifelong fan of the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots, his family says. Even during his eight years in Washington, “he made it very plain that those were his most favorite teams,” says his wife Diane Bodman.</p>
<p>Reflecting on his lifelong association with MIT, first as a student, then a professor, and finally a Corporation member, Mrs. Bodman says that “he loved MIT. He thought it was the finest institution in the world of its kind. He felt MIT really changed his life.”</p>
<p>Part of that, she says, was that it gave him “an approach to problems which encouraged a fact-based and insightful view of a problem, whether it was a problem in thermodynamics or a practical life problem.”</p>
<p>“He was a very intense person — he did everything with intensity,” Greene says. “He was a remarkable force in everything he did, both in his professional and personal life.”</p>
<p>Mrs. Bodman adds that “he found humor in most things, most situations. He was always quick to laugh.” Although he enjoyed fly fishing and loved his dogs, “he wasn’t a man who had hobbies. Sam’s favorite activity was work,” she says.</p>
<p>One thing he particularly enjoyed, she says, was “mentoring young people,” whether they were younger workers in the Department of Energy or entrepreneurs he worked with in his venture capital endeavors. “He encouraged thoughtful risk-taking,” she says. “He was a motivator.”</p>
<p>Mrs. Bodman adds that over the years, many of those young people returned to tell him “my life was changed by you.” They would say that lessons they learned by observing the way he worked or ran meetings were something they “carried over into their professional lives, and things they learned from his leadership style they have tried to use in their own careers.”</p>
<p>“He brought out the best in everyone,” Greene adds. “He demanded the best, saw the best, and expected no less from everyone, including himself.”</p>
<p>Bodman is survived by his wife M. Diane Bodman; three children, Elizabeth Mott, Andrew Bodman, and Sarah Greenhill; two step-children, Perry Barber and Caroline Greene; and a brother, James Bodman. His first wife, Elizabeth Little Bodman, died in 1982.</p>
Samuel W. BodmanImage: Donna ConveneyFaculty, Administration, Alumni/ae, MIT Corporation, Obituaries, Chemical engineering, School of EngineeringA summer tune-up for industry professionals https://news.mit.edu/2018/summer-tune-up-fermentation-prather-professional-education-0812
A popular class on fermentation technology has been attracting mid-career students to MIT for more than 50 years.Sat, 11 Aug 2018 23:59:59 -0400Meg Murphy | School of Engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/summer-tune-up-fermentation-prather-professional-education-0812<p>Kristala Jones Prather is speaking in a packed MIT lecture hall. Many of her students wear reading glasses, some have a little less hair than they used to, and most of them are well dressed and groomed. But all of these engineers, biologists, chemists, microbiologists, and biochemists take furious notes in thick course binders and lean forward to study the equations she jots on the chalkboard.</p>
<p>As Prather delves into Fermentation Technology, a short program offered by MIT Professional Education, she engages and challenges her students. “Do we have a few biochemists? Does this model remind you of anything?” she asks. “It may have been a dark time, but think back to your undergraduate biochemistry class,” she jokes before diving back into her lecture, one of 16 lectures the students will absorb. The course is the oldest in the MIT Professional Education catalog.</p>
<p>Since 1962, this intensive program has attracted industry professionals to campus for five days that promise a review of the fundamentals in the application of biological and engineering principles to problems involving microbial, mammalian, and biological and biochemical systems.</p>
<p>Fermentation Technology gathers a diverse array of professionals to glean the latest insights on terrain they navigate every day at work. It is an opportunity for them to gain knowledge of what might be coming next in biological and biochemical technology, with an emphasis on biological systems with industrial practices. Prather, the Arthur D. Little Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, oversees the course with Daniel I. C. Wang, an Institute Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering.</p>
<p>In addition to Prather and Wang, Fermentation Technology features a mix of guest lecturers that include other MIT faculty and industry professionals, such as Neal Connors from Phoenix BioConsulting in New Jersey, Kara Calhoun from the California biotech company Genentech, and Morris Z. Rosenberg, a biotech consultant in Washington.</p>
<p>As she wraps up her first of two 90-minute lectures of the day, Prather deadpans: “Marinate on that over the break. I’m happy to answer questions when we come back if it’s still not making sense to you.”</p>
<p>As the room empties for lunch, several of the visiting professionals make quick calls into the office or to check on family back home. Bill Morrison, a facilities engineer at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals in San Rafael, California, explains why he’s flown into Boston for hours of difficult lectures. He is moving into a process engineering role at his company and the course material is helpful for the most part. “I’m weak on the theory, but the other part about the mechanism of production is more up my alley,” he says.</p>
<p>Katherine Wyndham from Novavax Inc., a clinical-stage vaccine company headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, says she is a member of the manufacturing, science, and technology group at her company. “This course is really giving me a technical base for what I do,” she says. “I’d say 50 percent is directly applicable to stuff I use every day, and the other 50 percent provides me with new insight into what the process development group does.”</p>
<p>Making additional notes at her lecture seat, Soniya Parulekar of Merck and Company, a global pharmaceutical company, has arrived from Philadelphia for the program. She works in fermentation research and development. “A lot of the things I’m seeing discussed in this course are giving me a better sense of what I’m working on — a deeper knowledge,” she says.</p>
<p>Soon enough Prather is back from lunch. She begins to animatedly discuss modeling and bioprocess monitoring as industry professionals from across the country settle into their chairs to absorb as much information as they can.</p>
<p>There are 2.5 days left of the course. Or to be exact, seven more lectures, including: perfusion reactors, medium design and high cell-density cultivation, power requirement in bioreactors, oxygen transfer and shear in bioreactors, design of experiments, analytics in biomanufacturing, and bioprocess simulation and economics. Attention in the room is still running high.</p>
<p>For Prather, teaching a room full of professionals offers interesting opportunities as a teacher. “I teach the same material in my biochemical engineering class for undergraduates,” she says. “The short-course students bring a much richer perspective based on their own professional experiences. Sometimes,” she adds, “they teach me things that I can then offer to our own students.”</p>
Professor of chemical engineering Kristala Prather teaches Fermentation Technology, a short program offered by MIT Professional Education.Photo: Lillie Paquette / School of EngineeringSchool of Engineering, Chemical engineering, Classes and programs, MIT Professional Education, Faculty, Education, teaching, academicsSensor could help doctors select effective cancer therapyhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/sensor-could-help-doctors-select-effective-cancer-therapy-0807
Hydrogen peroxide-sensing molecule reveals whether chemotherapy drugs are having their intended effects.Tue, 07 Aug 2018 04:59:59 -0400Anne Trafton | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/sensor-could-help-doctors-select-effective-cancer-therapy-0807<p>MIT chemical engineers have developed a new sensor that lets them see inside cancer cells and determine whether the cells are responding to a particular type of chemotherapy drug.</p>
<p>The sensors, which detect hydrogen peroxide inside human cells, could help researchers identify new cancer drugs that boost levels of hydrogen peroxide, which induces programmed cell death. The sensors could also be adapted to screen individual patients’ tumors to predict whether such drugs would be effective against them.</p>
<p>“The same therapy isn’t going to work against all tumors,” says Hadley Sikes, an associate professor of chemical engineering at MIT. “Currently there’s a real dearth of quantitative, chemically specific tools to be able to measure the changes that occur in tumor cells versus normal cells in response to drug treatment.”</p>
<p>Sikes is the senior author of the study, which appears in the Aug. 7 issue of <em>Nature Communications</em>. The paper’s first author is graduate student Troy Langford; other authors are former graduate students Beijing Huang and Joseph Lim and graduate student Sun Jin Moon.</p>
<p><strong>Tracking hydrogen peroxide</strong></p>
<p>Cancer cells often have mutations that cause their metabolism to go awry and produce abnormally high fluxes of hydrogen peroxide. When too much of the molecule is produced, it can damage cells, so cancer cells become highly dependent on antioxidant systems that remove hydrogen peroxide from cells.</p>
<p>Drugs that target this vulnerability, which are known as “redox drugs,” can work by either disabling the antioxidant systems or further boosting production of hydrogen peroxide. Many such drugs have entered clinical trials, with mixed results.</p>
<p>“One of the problems is that the clinical trials usually find that they work for some patients and they don’t work for other patients,” Sikes says. “We really need tools to be able to do more well-designed trials where we figure out which patients are going to respond to this approach and which aren’t, so more of these drugs can be approved.”</p>
<p>To help move toward that goal, Sikes set out to design a sensor that could sensitively detect hydrogen peroxide inside human cells, allowing scientists to measure a cell’s response to such drugs.</p>
<p>Existing hydrogen peroxide sensors are based on proteins called transcription factors, taken from microbes and engineered to fluoresce when they react with hydrogen peroxide. Sikes and her colleagues tried to use these in human cells but found that they were not sensitive in the range of hydrogen peroxide they were trying to detect, which led them to seek human proteins that could perform the task.</p>
<p>Through studies of the network of human proteins that become oxidized with increasing hydrogen peroxide, the researchers identified an enzyme called peroxiredoxin that dominates most human cells’ reactions with the molecule. One of this enzyme’s many functions is sensing changes in hydrogen peroxide levels.</p>
<p>Langford then modified the protein by adding two fluorescent molecules to it — a green fluorescent protein at one end and a red fluorescent protein at the other end. When the sensor reacts with hydrogen peroxide, its shape changes, bringing the two fluorescent proteins closer together. The researchers can detect whether this shift has occurred by shining green light onto the cells: If no hydrogen peroxide has been detected, the glow remains green; if hydrogen peroxide is present, the sensor glows red instead.</p>
<p><strong>Predicting success</strong></p>
<p>The researchers tested their new sensor in two types of human cancer cells: one set that they knew was susceptible to a redox drug called piperlongumine, and another that they knew was not susceptible. The sensor revealed that hydrogen peroxide levels were unchanged in the resistant cells but went up in the susceptible cells, as the researchers expected.</p>
<p>Sikes envisions two major uses for this sensor. One is to screen libraries of existing drugs, or compounds that could potentially be used as drugs, to determine if they have the desired effect of increasing hydrogen peroxide concentration in cancer cells. Another potential use is to screen patients before they receive such drugs, to see if the drugs will be successful against each patient’s tumor. Sikes is now pursuing both of these approaches.</p>
<p>“You have to know which cancer drugs work in this way, and then which tumors are going to respond,” she says. “Those are two separate but related problems that both need to be solved for this approach to have practical impact in the clinic.”</p>
<p>The research was funded by the Haas Family Fellowship in Chemical Engineering, the National Science Foundation, a Samsung Fellowship, and a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award at the Scientific Interface.</p>
Research, Chemical engineering, Cancer, Chemotherapy, Medicine, Drug development, School of Engineering, National Science Foundation (NSF)A targeted approach to treating gliomahttps://news.mit.edu/2018/targeted-approach-treating-glioma-0806
With new method, surgeons would remove tumor, then implant microparticles that attack remaining cancer cells.Mon, 06 Aug 2018 14:59:59 -0400Anne Trafton | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/targeted-approach-treating-glioma-0806<p>Glioma, a type of brain cancer, is normally treated by removing as much of the tumor as possible, followed by radiation or chemotherapy. With this treatment, patients survive an average of about 10 years, but the tumors inevitably grow back.</p>
<p>A team of researchers from MIT, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital hopes to extend patients’ lifespan by delivering directly to the brain a drug that targets a mutation found in 20 to 25 percent of all gliomas. (This mutation is usually seen in gliomas that strike adults under the age of 45.) The researchers have devised a way to rapidly check for the mutation during brain surgery, and if the mutation is present, they can implant microparticles that gradually release the drug over several days or weeks.</p>
<p>“To provide really effective therapy, we need to diagnose very quickly, and ideally have a mutation diagnosis that can help guide genotype-specific treatment,” says Giovanni Traverso, an assistant professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, a research affiliate at MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and one of the senior authors of the paper.</p>
<p>The researchers are also working ways to identify and target other mutations found in gliomas and other types of brain tumors.</p>
<p>“This paradigm allows us to modify our current intraoperative resection strategy by applying molecular therapeutics that target residual tumor cells based on their specific vulnerabilities,” says Ganesh Shankar, who is currently completing a spine surgery fellowship at Cleveland Clinic prior to returning as a neurosurgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he performed this study.</p>
<p>Shankar and Koch Institute postdoc Ameya Kirtane are the lead authors of the paper, which appears in the <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em> the week of Aug. 6. Daniel Cahill, a neurosurgeon at MGH and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, is a senior author of the paper, and Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT, is also an author.</p>
<div class="cms-placeholder-content-video"></div>
<p><strong>Targeting tumors</strong></p>
<p>The tumors that the researchers targeted in this study, historically known as low-grade gliomas, usually occur in patients between the ages of 20 and 40. During surgery, doctors try to remove as much of the tumor as possible, but they can’t be too aggressive if tumors invade the areas of the brain responsible for key functions such as speech or movement. The research team wanted to find a way to locally treat those cancer cells with a targeted drug that could delay tumor regrowth.</p>
<p>To achieve that, the researchers decided to target a mutation called IDH1/2. Cancer cells with this mutation shut off a metabolic pathway that cells normally use to create a molecule called NAD, making them highly dependent on an alternative pathway that requires an enzyme called NAMPT. Researchers have been working to develop NAMPT inhibitors to treat cancer.</p>
<p>So far, these drugs have not been used for glioma, in part because of the difficulty in getting them across the blood-brain barrier, which separates the brain from circulating blood and prevents large molecules from entering the brain. NAMPT inhibitors can also produce serious side effects in the retina, bone marrow, liver, and blood platelets when they are given orally or intravenously.</p>
<p>To deliver the drugs locally, the researchers developed microparticles in which the NAMPT inhibitor is embedded in PLGA, a polymer that has been shown to be safe for use in humans. Another desirable feature of PLGA is that the rate at which the drug is released can be controlled by altering the ratio of the two polymers that make up PLGA — lactic acid and glycolic acid.</p>
<p>To determine which patients would benefit from treatment with the NAMPT inhibitor, the researchers devised a genetic test that can reveal the presence of the IDH mutation in approximately 30 minutes. This allows the procedure to be done on biopsied tissue during the surgery, which takes about four hours. If the test is positive, the microparticles can be placed in the brain, where they gradually release the drug, killing cells left behind during the surgery.</p>
<p>In tests in mice, the researchers found that treatment with the drug-carrying particles extended the survival of mice with IDH mutant-positive gliomas. As they expected, the treatment did not work against tumors without the IDH mutation. In mice treated with the particles, the team also found none of the harmful side effects seen when NAMPT inhibitors are given throughout the body.</p>
<p>“When you dose these drugs locally, none of those side effects are seen,” Traverso says. “So not only can you have a positive impact on the tumor, but you can also address the side effects which sometimes limit the use of a drug that is otherwise effective against tumors.”</p>
<p>The new approach builds on similar work from Langer’s lab that led to the first FDA-approved controlled drug-release system for brain cancer — a tiny wafer that can be implanted in the brain following surgery.</p>
<p>“I am very excited about this new paper, which complements very nicely the earlier work we did with Henry Brem of Johns Hopkins that led to Gliadel, which has now been approved in over 30 countries and has been used clinically for the past 22 years,” Langer says.</p>
<p><strong>An array of options</strong></p>
<p>The researchers are now developing tests for other common mutations found in brain tumors, with the goal of devising an array of potential treatments for surgeons to choose from based on the test results. This approach could also be used for tumors in other parts of the body, the researchers say.</p>
<p>“There’s no reason this has to be restricted to just gliomas,” Shankar says. “It should be able to be used anywhere where there’s a well-defined hotspot mutation.”</p>
<p>They also plan to do some tests of the IDH-targeted treatment in larger animals, to help determine the right dosages, before planning for clinical trials in patients.</p>
<p>“We feel its best use would be in the early stages, to improve local control and prevent regrowth at the site,” Cahill says. “Ideally it would be integrated early in the standard-of-care treatment for patients, and we would try to put off the recurrence of the disease for many years or decades. That’s what we’re hoping.”</p>
<p>The research was funded by the American Brain Tumor Association, a SPORE grant from the National Cancer Institute, the Burroughs Wellcome Career Award in the Medical Sciences, the National Institutes of Health, and the Division of Gastroenterology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.</p>
A team of researchers hopes to extend patients’ lifespan by delivering directly to the brain a drug that targets a mutation found in 20 to 25 percent of all gliomas.Image: Christine Daniloff/MITResearch, Cancer, Koch Institute, Chemical engineering, School of Engineering, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Medicine, Nanoscience and nanotechnology, Drug deliveryEncouraging the next generation of fusion innovatorshttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-samuel-ing-memorial-fund-encouraging-next-generation-fusion-innovators-0806
The Samuel W. Ing Memorial Fund will support MIT graduate students as they create a more advanced and less costly path to fusion energy solutions.Mon, 06 Aug 2018 12:00:00 -0400Paul Rivenberg | Plasma Science and Fusion Centerhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-samuel-ing-memorial-fund-encouraging-next-generation-fusion-innovators-0806<p>In memory&nbsp;of MIT alumnus Samuel Ing '53, MS '54, ScD '59, his family&nbsp;has established a memorial <a href="http://giving.mit.edu/samuel-ing" target="_blank">fund&nbsp;to support graduate students</a> at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) who are taking part in the center’s push to create a smaller, faster, and less expensive path to fusion energy.</p>
<p>Samuel Ing was born in Shanghai, China in 1932. Mentored by Professor Thomas Sherwood at MIT, he received&nbsp;BS, MS, and ScD degrees in chemical engineering&nbsp;in 1953, 1954, and 1959 respectively. Joining the Xerox Corporation after graduation, he rose from senior scientist, to principal scientist, to senior vice president of the Xerographic Technology Laboratory at&nbsp;the Webster Research Center in Webster, New York. He spent most of his career in western New York State with his wife Mabel, whom he&nbsp;met at an MIT dance. They&nbsp;raised&nbsp;four daughters: Julie, Bonnie, Mimi, and Polly.</p>
<p>An innovator and advocate for new technologies, including desktop publishing, Samuel Ing became intrigued with MIT’s approach to creating fusion energy after attending a talk by PSFC Director Dennis Whyte at the MIT Club in Palo Alto in early 2016. His daughter Emilie “Mimi”&nbsp;Slaughter ’87, SM&nbsp;’88, who majored in electrical engineering,&nbsp;later expressed her own enthusiasm to her father when, as a member of the School of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council, she heard Whyte speak in the fall of 2017.</p>
<p>In pursuit of a clean and virtually endless source of energy to fulfill the growing demands around the world, MIT has championed fusion research since the 1970s, designing compact tokamaks that use high magnetic fields to heat and contain the plasma fuel in a donut-shaped vacuum chamber. The PSFC is now working on SPARC, a new high-field, net fusion energy experiment. Researchers are using a thin superconducting tape to create compact electromagnets with&nbsp;fields significantly higher than those available to any other current fusion experiment.&nbsp;These magnets would make it possible to build a smaller, high-field tokamak at less cost, while speeding the quest for fusion energy.</p>
<p>Mimi Slaughter remembers her father’s passion for innovation and entrepreneurship.</p>
<p>“It’s the MIT culture,” she says.&nbsp;“I see that in the fusion lab —&nbsp;the idea of just doing it; figuring out a way to try to make it happen, not necessarily through the traditional channels. I know my Dad agrees. He did that at Xerox. He had his own lab, creating his own desktop copiers. That grew out of what he experienced at MIT.”</p>
<p>The Ing family is celebrating&nbsp;that creative spirit with the&nbsp;<a href="http://giving.mit.edu/samuel-ing" target="_blank">Samuel W. Ing Memorial Fund</a>&nbsp;for MIT graduate students who will be driving the research and discovery forward on SPARC. It was a class of PSFC graduate students that proposed the original concept for this experiment, and it will be the young minds with new ideas that, with the support of the&nbsp;fund, will advance fusion research at MIT.</p>
<p>Or as Sam Ing once said:&nbsp;“Very interesting technology. It has a tremendous future, and if anyone can do it, it’s MIT.”</p>
Samuel W. Ing (1932-2018)Image courtesy of PSFC.School of Engineering, Chemical engineering, Nuclear science and engineering, Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Alumni/ae, Funding, Fusion, Giving, Nuclear power and reactorsCell-sized robots can sense their environmenthttps://news.mit.edu/2018/cell-sized-robots-sense-their-environment-0723
Made of electronic circuits coupled to minute particles, the devices could flow through intestines or pipelines to detect problems.Mon, 23 Jul 2018 11:00:00 -0400David L. Chandler | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/cell-sized-robots-sense-their-environment-0723<p>Researchers at MIT have created what may be the smallest robots yet that can sense their environment, store data, and even carry out computational tasks. These devices, which are about the size of a human egg cell, consist of tiny electronic circuits made of two-dimensional materials, piggybacking on minuscule particles called colloids.</p>
<p>Colloids, which insoluble particles or molecules anywhere from a billionth to a millionth of a meter across, are so small they can stay suspended indefinitely in a liquid or even in air. By coupling these tiny objects to complex circuitry, the researchers hope to lay the groundwork for devices that could be dispersed to carry out diagnostic journeys through anything from the human digestive system to oil and gas pipelines, or perhaps to waft through air to measure compounds inside a chemical processor or refinery.</p>
<p>“We wanted to figure out methods to graft complete, intact electronic circuits onto colloidal particles,” explains Michael Strano, the Carbon C. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT and senior author of the study, which was published today in the journal <em>Nature Nanotechnology</em>. MIT postdoc Volodymyr Koman is the paper’s lead author.</p>
<p>“Colloids can access environments and travel in ways that other materials can’t,” Strano says. Dust particles, for example, can float indefinitely in the air because they are small enough that the random motions imparted by colliding air molecules are stronger than the pull of gravity. Similarly, colloids suspended in liquid will never settle out.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="/sites/mit.edu.newsoffice/files/gif1-fabrication.gif" /></p>
<p><em><span style="font-size:10px;">Researchers produced tiny electronic circuits, just 100 micrometers across,on a substrate material which was then dissolved away to leave the individual devices floating freely in solution. (Courtesy of the researchers)</span></em></p>
<p>Strano says that while other groups have worked on the creation of similarly tiny robotic devices, their emphasis has been on developing ways to control movement, for example by replicating the tail-like flagellae that some microbial organisms use to propel themselves. But Strano suggests that may not be the most fruitful approach, since flagellae and other cellular movement systems are primarily used for local-scale positioning, rather than for significant movement. For most purposes, making such devices more functional is more important than making them mobile, he says.</p>
<p>Tiny robots made by the MIT team are self-powered, requiring no external power source or even internal batteries. A simple photodiode provides the trickle of electricity that the tiny robots’ circuits require to power their computation and memory circuits. That’s enough to let them sense information about their environment, store those data in their memory, and then later have the data read out after accomplishing their mission.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="/sites/mit.edu.newsoffice/files/gif2-aero.gif" /></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10px;"><em>The microscopic devices, combining electronic circuits with colloid particles, are aerosolized inside a chamber and then a substance to be analyzed is introduced, where it can interact with the devices. These devices are then collected on microscope slides on a surface so they can be tested. (Courtesy of the researchers)</em></span></p>
<p>Such devices could ultimately be a boon for the oil and gas industry, Strano says. Currently, the main way of checking for leaks or other issues in pipelines is to have a crew physically drive along the pipe and inspect it with expensive instruments. In principle, the new devices could be inserted into one end of the pipeline, carried along with the flow, and then removed at the other end, providing a record of the conditions they encountered along the way, including the presence of contaminants that could indicate the location of problem areas. The initial proof-of-concept devices didn’t have a timing circuit that would indicate the location of particular data readings, but adding that is part of ongoing work.</p>
<p>Similarly, such particles could potentially be used for diagnostic purposes in the body, for example to pass through the digestive tract searching for signs of inflammation or other disease indicators, the researchers say.</p>
<p>Most conventional microchips, such as silicon-based or CMOS, have a flat, rigid substrate and would not perform properly when attached to colloids that can experience complex mechanical stresses while travelling through the environment. In addition, all such chips are “very energy-thirsty,” Strano says. That’s why Koman decided to try out two-dimensional electronic materials, including graphene and transition-metal dichalcogenides, which he found could be attached to colloid surfaces, remaining operational even after after being launched into air or water. And such thin-film electronics require only tiny amounts of energy. “They can be powered by nanowatts with subvolt voltages,” Koman says.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="/sites/mit.edu.newsoffice/files/gif3-detection.gif" /></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10px;"><em>As a demonstration of how such particles might be used to test biological samples, the team placed a solution containing the devices on a leaf, and then used the devices’ internal reflectors to locate them for testing by shining a laser at the leaf. (Courtesy of the researchers)</em></span></p>
<p>Why not just use the 2-D electronics alone? Without some substrate to carry them, these tiny materials are too fragile to hold together and function. “They can’t exist without a substrate,” Strano says. “We need to graft them to the particles to give them mechanical rigidity and to make them large enough to get entrained in the flow.”</p>
<p>But the 2-D materials “are strong enough, robust enough to maintain their functionality even on unconventional substrates” such as the colloids, Koman says.</p>
<p>The nanodevices they produced with this method are autonomous particles that contain electronics for power generation, computation, logic, and memory storage. They are powered by light and contain tiny retroreflectors that allow them to be easily located after their travels. They can then be interrogated through probes to deliver their data. In ongoing work, the team hopes to add communications capabilities to allow the particles to deliver their data without the need for physical contact.</p>
<p>Other efforts at nanoscale robotics “haven’t reached that level” of creating complex electronics that are sufficiently small and energy efficient to be aerosolized or suspended in a colloidal liquid. These are “very smart particles, by current standards,” Strano says, adding, “We see this paper as the introduction of a new field” in robotics.</p>
<p>The research team, all at MIT, included Pingwei Liu, Daichi Kozawa, Albert Liu, Anton Cottrill, Youngwoo Son, and Jose Lebron. The work was supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research and the Swiss National Science Foundation.</p>
Research, School of Engineering, Chemical engineering, Nanoscience and nanotechnology, Robots, RoboticsSchool of Engineering second quarter 2018 awards https://news.mit.edu/2018/school-of-engineering-second-quarter-awards-0717
Faculty members recognized for excellence via a diverse array of honors, grants, and prizes over the last quarter.Tue, 17 Jul 2018 12:20:01 -0400School of Engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/school-of-engineering-second-quarter-awards-0717<p>Members of the MIT engineering faculty receive many&nbsp;awards in recognition of their scholarship, service, and overall excellence. Every quarter, the School of Engineering publicly recognizes&nbsp;their achievements by highlighting the&nbsp;honors, prizes, and medals won by faculty working in our academic departments, labs, and centers.</p>
<p>The following&nbsp;awards were given from April through June, 2018. Submissions for future listings&nbsp;are <a href="https://soe.mit.edu/communication/awards-submission-form/" target="_blank">welcome&nbsp;at any time</a>.</p>
<p>Emilio Baglietto, of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, won the <a href="http://web.mit.edu/nse/news/awards/nse2018.html">Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Distinguished Teaching</a> on May 14.</p>
<p>Hari Balakrishnan, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, won the <a href="https://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/announcements/eecs-celebrates-2018-recognizing-departments-outstanding-contributors">HKN Best Instructor Award</a> on May 18.</p>
<p>Robert C. Berwick, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science,&nbsp;won the <a href="https://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/announcements/eecs-celebrates-2018-recognizing-departments-outstanding-contributors">Jerome H. Saltzer Award for Excellence in Teaching</a> on May 18.</p>
<p>Michael Birnbaum, of the Department of Biological Engineering&nbsp;and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, became a <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/about/news-room/press-releases-and-statements/2018/06/14/5-new-pew-stewart-scholars-to-pursue-innovative-cancer-research">2018 Pew-Stewart Scholar for Cancer Research</a> on June 14.</p>
<p>Lydia Bourouiba, of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, won the Smith Family Foundation Odyssey Award on June 25.</p>
<p>Michele Bustamante of the Materials Research Laboratory, was awarded a <a href="https://www.mrs.org/press-room/press-release-details-page/2018/05/22/materials-research-society-and-the-minerals-metals-materials-society-announce-2018-2019-congressional-science-and-engineering-fellow">2018-19 MRS/TMS Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship</a> on May 22.</p>
<p>Oral Buyukozturk, of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, won the <a href="http://umi.mit.edu/engineering-mechanics-institute-announces-recipients-2018-awards">George W. Housner Medal for Structural Control and Monitoring</a> on May 31.</p>
<p>Luca Carlone of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, won the IEEE Transactions on Robotics “King-Sun Fu" Best Paper Award on May 24.</p>
<p>Gang Chen, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was elected a <a href="https://www.amacad.org/content/members/newfellows.aspx?s=a">2018 fellow to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences</a> on April 18.</p>
<p>Erik Demaine, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, was awarded the <a href="https://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/announcements/eecs-celebrates-2018-recognizing-departments-outstanding-contributors">Burgess (1952) and Elizabeth Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching</a> on May 18.</p>
<p>Srinivas Devadas, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, won the Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching in May.</p>
<p>Thibaut Divoux, of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, won the <a href="http://cshub.mit.edu/news/cshub-researcher-thibaut-divoux-receives-arthur-b-metzner-award">2018 Early Career Arthur B. Metzner Award of the Rheology Society</a> on May 3.</p>
<p>Dennis M. Freeman, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Research Laboratory of Electronics, won an Innovative Seminar Award on May 16; he also won the <a href="https://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/announcements/eecs-celebrates-2018-recognizing-departments-outstanding-contributors">Burgess (1952) and Elizabeth Jeamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching</a> on May 18.</p>
<p>Neville Hogan, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, won the 2018 EMBS Academic Career Achievement Award on May 10.</p>
<p>Gim P. Hom, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was honored with the <a href="https://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/announcements/eecs-celebrates-2018-recognizing-departments-outstanding-contributors">IEEE/Association for Computing Machinery Best Advisor Award</a> on May 18.</p>
<p>Rohit Karnik, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Regina Barzilay and John N. Tsitsiklis, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, won the Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Distinguished Teaching in May.</p>
<p>Dina Katabi, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, was presented with an <a href="https://communications.catholic.edu/news/spotlight/2018-commencement.html">honorary degree</a> from The Catholic University of America on May 12; she also won the <a href="https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/04/04/1460015/0/en/MIT-Professor-Who-Developed-WiFi-Like-Device-That-Sees-Through-Walls-To-Receive-ACM-Prize-In-Computing.html">Association for Computing Machinery 2017 Prize in Computing</a> on April 4.</p>
<p>Rob Miller, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, won the <a href="https://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/announcements/eecs-celebrates-2018-recognizing-departments-outstanding-contributors">Richard J. Caloggero Award</a> on May 18.</p>
<p>Eytan Modiano, of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics&nbsp;and the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, won the IEEE Infocom best paper award on April 18.</p>
<p>Stefanie Mueller, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, received an honorable mention for the <a href="https://awards.acm.org/about/2017-doctoral-dissertation">Association for Computing Machinery Doctoral Dissertation Award</a> on June 23. She also won the EECS Outstanding Educator Award on May 18.</p>
<p>Dava J. Newman, of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, won the <a href="https://www.aiaa.org/HonorsAndAwardsRecipientsList.aspx?awardId=481d0fc9-2536-4d04-b2a2-f69f1d56c3d7">AIAA Jeffries Aerospace Medicine and Life Sciences Research Award</a> on May 4.</p>
<p>Christine Ortiz, of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was awarded a <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-j-wel-names-education-innovation-grant-recipients-0507">J-WEL Grant</a> on May 7.</p>
<p>Ronitt Rubinfeld, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, won the Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Advising in May.</p>
<p>Jennifer Rupp, of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, won a <a href="https://www.emdgroup.com/en/news/displaying-futures-award-12-06-2018.html">Displaying Futures Award</a> on June 12.</p>
<p>Alex K. Shalek, of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, has been named one of the 2018 <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/projects/pew-stewart-scholars-for-cancer-research">Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research</a> on June 14.</p>
<p>Alex Slocum, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, won the <a href="https://www.asme.org/about-asme/participate/honors-awards/achievement-awards/ruth-and-joel-spira-outstanding-design-educator">Ruth and Joel Spira Outstanding Design Educator Award</a> on June 11.</p>
<p>Michael P. Short, of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering won the Junior Bose Award in May.</p>
<p>Joseph Steinmeyer, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, won the <a href="https://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/announcements/eecs-celebrates-2018-recognizing-departments-outstanding-contributors">Louis D. Smullin ('39) Award for Excellence in Teaching</a> on May 18.</p>
<p>Christopher Terman, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, won a <a href="http://awards.mit.edu/convocation/awards/gordon-y-billard-award">MIT Gordon Y Billard Award</a> on May 10.</p>
<p>Tao B. Schardl, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, won an EECS Outstanding Educator Award on May 18.</p>
<p>Yang Shao-Horn, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, won the <a href="http://click.rsc.org/rsps/m/gS0iFx_eAqlLI9aI7CkeW0eziteVV3s3YQ99R5YgwJA">Faraday Medal</a> on April 19.</p>
<p>Vinod Vaikuntanathan, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, won the <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2018/vinod-vaikuntanathan-wins-mit-harold-edgerton-faculty-achievement-award-0423">Harold E. Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award</a> on April 26.</p>
<p>Kripa Varanasi, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, won the Gustus L. Larson Memorial Award and the Frank E. Perkins Award for Excellence in Graduate Advising on May 10.</p>
<p>David Wallace, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was honored with the <a href="https://www.asme.org/about-asme/news/asme-news/three-members-honored-international-education">Ben C. Sparks Medal</a> on April 27.</p>
<p>Amos Winter, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was named a leader in <a href="http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=682018">New Voices in Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine</a> on June 8.</p>
<p>Bilge Yildiz, of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering&nbsp;and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, won the <a href="http://ceramics.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/purdy_recipient_list_2018.pdf">Ross Coffin Purdy Award</a> on June 22.</p>
<p>Laurence R. Young, of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, won the Life Sciences and Biomedical Engineering Branch Aerospace Medical Association Professional Excellence Award on April 27.</p>
Photo: Lillie Paquette/School of EngineeringAwards, honors and fellowships, Biological engineering, Aeronautical and astronautical engineering, Chemical engineering, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs), Mechanical engineering, Civil and environmental engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Nuclear science and engineering, IDSS, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), Materials Research Laboratory, Koch Institute, Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), Research Laboratory of Electronics, School of EngineeringKristala Prather: Advancing energy-efficient biochemistry https://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-chemical-engineering-kristala-prather-advancing-energy-efficient-biochemistry-0716
Associate professor of chemical engineering talks about the future of biochemistry and the next generation of scientists and engineers.Mon, 16 Jul 2018 12:20:00 -0400Francesca McCaffrey | MIT Energy Initiativehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-chemical-engineering-kristala-prather-advancing-energy-efficient-biochemistry-0716<p><a href="http://energy.mit.edu/profile/kristala-prather/">Kristala Jones Prather</a>&nbsp;will be the first person to tell you the difference between science and engineering. She’ll also be the first to tell you how important both are to the research process.</p>
<p>“Science is about discovery, and engineering is about application,” Prather says. “The beauty of being a scientist and doing discovery work is the freedom and creativity. For engineers, it’s all about how these discoveries can be applied and solve problems in the real world.”</p>
<p>She would know: Over the course of her career, she’s been both. While working in bioprocess research and development at Merck, Prather delved into the engineering side of biology and chemistry. “My decision to work in industry before pursuing an academic career was very intentional,” she says. “I wanted to get a sense of what to think about when bringing products to market. How is new technology adopted? Can you improve upon existing processes?”</p>
<p>Prather’s early years in industry shaped her knowledge of the process pipeline she is currently seeking to streamline through scientific inquiry. As the Arthur D. Little Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, she conducts research that ties together the fields of energy, biology, and chemistry. While biology and energy are most often connected in discussions of biofuels, Prather’s research focuses on a different kind of energy advancement: more energy-efficient processes for the manufacture of biochemicals.</p>
<p>“I tell my students, look at the carpet in this room,” Prather says. “The probability is high that 50 percent&nbsp;or more of the materials in that carpet were produced using oil. So how do we decrease that number?” Prather’s lab works on engineering bacteria to produce biochemicals, thus replacing the fossil-fuel based processes currently responsible for making so many of the world’s materials.</p>
<p>Such research requires expertise in chemical engineering, biological engineering, and genetics. Using genetic engineering, Prather and her team can manipulate the genes of microbes to control the kind and quantity of products they produce. These products could be anything from insulin or human growth hormone to the synthetic materials whose production would otherwise have required the use of oil or other fossil-based products.</p>
<p>“The goal in exploring bio-based methods for creating these chemicals is to design a less energy-intensive process that is still cost-competitive,” she says. “We want to use less energy to get to the same molecules.”</p>
<p>Yet&nbsp;for all the engineering knowledge that Prather gained while she was working in industry, something major was missing.</p>
<p>“When I looked at the part of my job I liked best, it had to do with mentoring young scientists,” she says. “Training and teaching them how to be independent researchers in their fields was the most important and enjoyable part of the job to me.” This realization spurred Prather to make the switch back to academia that she had always been planning. “In industry, you eventually move away from mentoring younger researchers as you move up in the ranks,” she says. “In academia, mentoring is the kernel at the center that always stays the same.”</p>
<p>With her current classes, Prather has ample opportunity to mentor the next generation of MIT scientists and engineers. She teaches 10.10 (Introduction to Chemical Engineering) to first-year and sophomore undergraduates, as well as&nbsp;10.542 (Biochemical Engineering) for graduate students and upper-level undergrads. Opportunities to reach students present themselves outside of the classroom as well. In fall 2017, Prather was invited by MIT President L. Rafael Reif to be part of a small group of professors addressing incoming first-years at a welcome assembly their first week on campus.</p>
<p>The advice she gave to students then is a message she believes all MIT students need to hear.</p>
<p>“You need to embrace failure,” she says. “Recognize that not everything you attempt is going to work out.”</p>
<p>But there’s an important corollary to this advice. “Students, especially at MIT, should also remember: You belong here,” she&nbsp;says. “It doesn’t matter how many AP classes you come in with or anything like that. And there are a lot of people here to help you get through.”</p>
<p>When asked what the most challenging part of being a professor is, Prather says:&nbsp;“Just how much stuff there is to do. Not the volume, but the diversity — that mix of administrative and academic work.” Still, the most rewarding part of the job is easy to pinpoint. “The students,” she&nbsp;says. “The day a student in my lab defends their thesis is the happiest and saddest day of my life. Happiest because I’m so proud of what they’ve done. But saddest because the time has come for them to leave.”</p>
<p>Prather and her colleague&nbsp;<a href="http://energy.mit.edu/profile/angela-belcher/" target="_blank">Angela Belcher</a>, the James Mason Crafts Professor of Biological Engineering and Materials Science at MIT, are advancing the future of energy bioscience through their work as co-directors of MITEI’s&nbsp;<a href="http://energy.mit.edu/lcec/" target="_blank">Low-Carbon Energy Center</a>&nbsp;for Energy Bioscience Research. The goal of the center, Prather says, is to “use the toolbox of biology to engineer solutions to clean energy challenges.”</p>
<p>Prather and Belcher are bringing together a host of biological and chemical engineers from across the Institute to perform research in a wide range of areas. Prather’s own work using genetics to engineer biochemicals is complemented by myriad other projects her colleagues have in the works. Research topics range from biochemical remediation, or the use of bacteria to clean up oil spills; to biological generation of liquid fuels from natural gas; to engineering a virus capable of improving solar cell efficiency.</p>
<p>“We’re really trying to pull together the collective talents of researchers at MIT who are using biology to solve a range of problems,” she says. The results could have positive impacts on critical fields including renewable energy, clean fuel sources, infrastructure, storage, and chemical processing and production.</p>
<p><em>This article appears in the&nbsp;<a href="http://energy.mit.edu/energy-futures/spring-2018/" target="_blank">Spring 2018</a>&nbsp;issue of </em>Energy Futures,<em> the magazine of the MIT Energy Initiative.</em></p>
Professor Kristala Jones Prather leads a discussion at MITEI about the future of biofuels — and whether the prime window of time for their deployment has already passed or has not yet come. Prather argued for the latter. “I think it’s too early,” she told the undergraduates. “We just haven’t spent enough time on the problem yet.”Photo: Sofia Cardamone/MITEISchool of Engineering, Chemical engineering, Biology, Energy, Faculty, Profile, MIT Energy Initiative, Research, Biofuels, Genetic engineering, Chemistry, Biological engineeringConnor Coley named 2018 DARPA Riserhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-graduate-student-connor-coley-named-darpa-riser-0716
Chemical engineering graduate student is invited to participate in the agency&#039;s 60th anniversary symposium in September.Mon, 16 Jul 2018 12:10:00 -0400Melanie Miller Kaufman | Department of Chemical Engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-graduate-student-connor-coley-named-darpa-riser-0716<p>The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has honored Connor Coley, who is currently&nbsp;pursuing his graduate degree in chemical engineering, as one of&nbsp;50&nbsp;DARPA Risers&nbsp;for 2018.</p>
<p>The award states that DARPA Risers are considered by the agency to be “up-and-coming standouts in their fields, capable of discovering and leveraging innovative opportunities for technological surprise — the heart of DARPA’s national security mission.”</p>
<p>Currently a member of the Klavs Jensen and William Green research groups, Coley is focused on improving automation and computer assistance in synthesis planning and reaction optimization with medicinal chemistry applications. He is more broadly interested in the design and construction of automated microfluidic platforms for analytics (e.g. kinetic or process understanding) and on-demand synthesis.</p>
<p>The goal of many synthetic efforts, particularly in early stage drug discovery, is to produce a target small molecule of interest. At MIT, Coley’s early graduate research&nbsp;focused on streamlining organic synthesis from an experimental perspective: screening and optimizing chemical reactions in a microfluidic platform using as little material as possible.</p>
<p>But even with an automated platform to do just that, researchers need&nbsp;to know exactly what reaction to run. They must first figure out the best synthetic route to make the target compound and then turn to the chemical literature to define a suitable parameter space to operate within. As part of the DARPA Make-It program, Coley and his colleagues started working toward a much more ambitious goal. Instead of automating only the execution of reactions, could a researcher automate the entire workflow of route identification, process development, and experimental execution?</p>
<p>Coley's&nbsp;recent research has focused on various aspects of computer-aided synthesis planning to help make a fully autonomous synthetic chemistry platform, leveraging techniques in machine learning to meaningfully generalize historical reaction data. This includes questions of how best to propose novel retrosynthetic pathways and validate those suggestions in silico before carrying them out in the laboratory. The overall goal of his work is to develop models and computational approaches that — in combination with more traditional automation techniques —&nbsp;will improve the efficiency of small molecule discovery.</p>
<p>“It's been a privilege to participate in the Make-It program and I am grateful for being named a DARPA Riser,” Coley says. “I'm excited to take part in the D60 anniversary event and talk about my ideas for how this work can be extended to more broadly transform the process of molecular discovery.”</p>
<p>Coley received his BS in chemical engineering from Caltech in 2014 and is a recipient of MIT’s Robert T. Haslam Presidential Graduate Fellowship.</p>
<p>Coley will participate in D60, DARPA’s 60th Anniversary Symposium, Sept. 5-7 at Gaylord National Harbor. D60 will provide attendees the opportunity to engage with up-and-coming innovators, including some of today’s most creative and accomplished scientists and technologists. DARPA works&nbsp;to inspire attendees to explore future technologies, their potential application to tomorrow’s technical and societal challenges, and the dilemmas those applications may engender. D60 participants will have the opportunity to be a part of the new relationships, partnerships, and communities of interest that this event aims to foster, and advance dialogue on the pursuit of science in the national interest.</p>
Chemical engineering graduate student Connor Coley is researching ways to improve automation and computer assistance in synthesis planning and reaction optimization with medicinal chemistry applications.Image courtesy of Connor ColeySchool of Engineering, Chemical engineering, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Awards, honors and fellowships, Graduate, postdoctoral, Machine learningNew materials improve delivery of therapeutic messenger RNAhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/new-materials-improve-delivery-therapeutic-messenger-rna-0716
Polymeric nanoparticles can efficiently administer mRNA to cells of the lungs, liver, and other organs.Mon, 16 Jul 2018 00:00:00 -0400Anne Trafton | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/new-materials-improve-delivery-therapeutic-messenger-rna-0716<p>In an advance that could lead to new treatments for a variety of diseases, MIT researchers have devised a new way to deliver messenger RNA (mRNA) into cells.</p>
<p>Messenger RNA, a large nucleic acid that encodes genetic information, can direct cells to produce specific proteins. Unlike DNA, mRNA is not permanently inserted into a cell’s genome, so it could be used to produce a therapeutic protein that is only needed temporarily. It can also be used to produce gene-editing proteins that alter a cell’s genome and then disappear, minimizing the risk of off-target effects.</p>
<p>Because mRNA molecules are so large, researchers have had difficulty designing ways to efficiently get them inside cells. It has also been a challenge to deliver mRNA to specific organs in the body. The new MIT approach, which involves packaging mRNA into polymers called amino-polyesters, addresses both of those obstacles.</p>
<p>“We are excited by the potential of these formulations to deliver mRNA in a safe and effective manner,” says Daniel Anderson, an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering and a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES).</p>
<p>Anderson is the senior author of the paper, which appears in the journal <em>Advanced Materials</em>. The paper’s lead authors are MIT postdoc Piotr Kowalski and former visiting graduate student Umberto Capasso Palmiero of Politecnico di Milano. Other authors are research associate Yuxuan Huang, postdoc Arnab Rudra, and David H. Koch Institute Professor Robert Langer.</p>
<p><strong>Polymer control</strong></p>
<p>Cells use mRNA to carry protein-building instructions from DNA to ribosomes, where proteins are assembled. By delivering synthetic mRNA to cells, researchers hope to be able to stimulate cells to produce proteins that could be used to treat disease. Scientists have developed some effective methods for delivering smaller RNA molecules, and a number of these materials have shown potential in clinical trials.</p>
<p>The MIT team decided to package mRNA into new polymers called amino-polyesters. These polymers are biodegradable, and unlike many other delivery polymers, they do not have a strong positive charge, which may make them less likely to damage cells.</p>
<p>To create the polymers, the researchers used an approach that allows them to control the properties of the polymer, such as its molecular weight. This means that the quality of the polymers produced will be the similar in each batch, which is important for clinical transition and often not the case with other polymer synthesis methods.</p>
<p>“Being able to control the molecular weight and the properties of your material helps to be able to reproducibly make nanoparticles with similar qualities, and to produce carriers starting from building blocks that are biocompatible could reduce their toxicity,” Capasso Palmiero says.</p>
<p>“It makes clinical translation much harder if you don’t have control over the reproducibility of the delivery system and the released degradation products, which is a challenge for polymer-based nucleic acid delivery,” Kowalski says.</p>
<p>For this study, the researchers created a diverse library of polymers that varied in the composition of amino-alcohol core and the lactone monomers. The researchers also varied the length of polymer chains and the presence of carbon atom side chains in the lactone subunits.</p>
<p>After creating about three dozen different polymers, the researchers combined them with lipids, which help stabilize the particles, and encapsulated mRNA within the nanoparticles.</p>
<p>In tests in mice, the researchers identified several particles that could effectively deliver mRNA to cells and induce the cells to synthesize the protein encoded by the mRNA. To their surprise, they also found that several of the nanoparticles appeared to preferentially accumulate in certain organs, including the liver, lungs, heart, and spleen. This kind of selectivity may allow researchers to deliver specific therapies to certain locations in the body.</p>
<p>“It is challenging to achieve tissue-specific mRNA delivery,” says Yizhou Dong, an associate professor of pharmaceutics and pharmaceutical chemistry at Ohio State University, who was not involved in the research. “The findings in this report are very exciting and provide new insights on chemical features of polymers and their interactions with different tissues in vivo. These novel polymeric nanomaterials will facilitate systemic delivery of mRNA for therapeutic applications.”</p>
<p><strong>Targeting disease</strong></p>
<p>The researchers did not investigate what makes different nanoparticles go to different organs, but they hope to further study that question. Particles that specifically target different organs could be very useful for treating lung diseases such as pulmonary hypertension, or for delivering vaccines to immune cells in the spleen, Kowalski says. Another possible application is using the particles to deliver mRNA encoding the proteins required for the genome-editing technique known as CRISPR-Cas9, which can make permanent additions or deletions to a cell’s genome.</p>
<p>Anderson’s lab is now working in collaboration with researchers at the Polytechnic University of Milan on the next generation of these polymers in hopes of improving the efficiency of RNA delivery and enhancing the particles’ ability to target specific organs.</p>
<p>“There is definitely a potential to increase the efficacy of these materials by further modifications, and also there is potential to hopefully find particles with different organ-specificity by extending the library,” Kowalski says.</p>
<p>The research was funded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Progetto Roberto Rocca.</p>
MIT researchers have designed nanoparticles that can deliver messenger RNA to specific organs. In this image, lung cells expressing the synthetic mRNA show up as red.Image: Piotr KowalskiResearch, Chemical engineering, Koch Institute, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), School of Engineering, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)Neural implants modulate microstructures in the brain with pinpoint accuracyhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/neural-implants-modulate-brain-microstructures-with-pinpoint-accuracy-0628
MIT researchers develop new tools to enable targeted delivery of drugs to deep brain structures through implanted microprobes.Thu, 28 Jun 2018 16:20:01 -0400Windy Pham | Institute for Medical Engineering and Sciencehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/neural-implants-modulate-brain-microstructures-with-pinpoint-accuracy-0628<p>The diversity of structures and functions of the brain is becoming increasingly realized in research today. Key structures exist in the brain that regulate emotion, anxiety, happiness, memory, and mobility. These structures can come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes and can all be physically near one another. Dysfunction of these structures and circuits linking them are common causes of many neurologic and neuropsychiatric diseases. For example, the substantia nigra is only a few millimeters in size yet is crucial for movement and coordination. Destruction of substantia nigra neurons is what causes motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease.</p>
<p>New technologies such as optogenetics have allowed us to identify similar microstructures in the brain. However, these techniques rely on liquid infusions into the brain, which prepare the regions to be studied to respond to light. These infusions are done with large needles, which do not have the fine control to target specific regions. Clinical therapy has also lagged behind. New drug therapies aimed at treating these conditions are delivered orally, which results in drug distribution throughout the brain, or through large needle-cannulas, which do not have the fine control to accurately dose specific regions. As a result, patients of neurologic and psychiatric disorders frequently fail to respond to therapies due to poor drug delivery to diseased regions.</p>
<p>A new study&nbsp;addressing this&nbsp;problem&nbsp;has been <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/06/21/1804372115" target="_blank">published</a> in <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. </em>The lead author is <a href="https://cima-lab.mit.edu/people/members" target="_blank">Khalil Ramadi</a>, a medical engineering and medical physics (MEMP) PhD candidate in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST). For this study, Khalil and his thesis advisor, <a href="https://dmse.mit.edu/faculty/profile/cima" target="_blank">Michael Cima</a>, the David H. Koch Professor of Engineering within the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and associate dean of innovation in the School of Engineering, collaborated with Institute Professors <a href="https://ki.mit.edu/people/faculty/langer" target="_blank">Robert Langer</a> and <a href="https://mcgovern.mit.edu/principal-investigators/ann-graybiel" target="_blank">Ann Graybiel</a> to tackle this issue.</p>
<p>The team developed tools to enable targeted delivery of nanoliters of drugs to deep brain structures through chronically implanted microprobes. They also developed nuclear imaging techniques using positron emission tomography (PET) to measure the volume of the brain region targeted with each infusion. “Drugs for disorders of the central nervous system are nonspecific and get distributed throughout the brain,” Cima says. “Our animal studies show that volume is a critical factor when delivering drugs to the brain, as important as the total dose delivered.&nbsp;Using microcannulas and microPET imaging, we can control the area of brain exposed to these drugs, improving targeting accuracy double time comparing to the traditional methods used today.”</p>
<p>The researchers were also able to design cannulas that are MRI-compatible and implanted up to one year in rats. Implanting these cannulas with micropumps allowed the researchers to remotely control the behavior of animals. Significantly, they found that varying the volume infused alone had a profound effect on behavior induced, even if the total drug dose delivered stayed constant. These results show that regulation of volume delivery to brain region is extremely important in influencing brain activity. This technology could potentially enable precise investigation of neurological disease pathology in preclinical models, and more effective treatment in human patients.</p>
MiNDS probes developed at MIT cause minimal injury to brain tissue. This image shows minimal tissue scarring (green and red stains) and healthy neuron growth (purple) surrounding an implant.Image: Khalil RamadiResearch, Health sciences and technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), Neuroscience, Brain and cognitive sciences, Drug delivery, Koch Institute, Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology, DMSE, Materials Science and Engineering, Chemical engineering, Biological engineering“Artificial blubber” protects divers in frigid waterhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/artificial-blubber-protects-divers-frigid-water-0619
MIT engineers develop a way to triple the survival time for swimmers in wetsuits.Tue, 19 Jun 2018 00:00:00 -0400David Chandler | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/artificial-blubber-protects-divers-frigid-water-0619<p>When Navy SEALs carry out dives in Arctic waters, or when rescue teams are diving under ice-covered rivers or ponds, the survival time even in the best wetsuits is very limited — as little as tens of minutes, and the experience can be extremely painful at best. Finding ways of extending that survival time without hampering mobility has been a priority for the U.S. Navy and research divers, as a pair of MIT engineering professors learned during a recent program that took them to a variety of naval facilities.</p>
<p>That visit led to a two-year collaboration that has now yielded a dramatic result: a simple treatment that can improve the survival time for a conventional wetsuit by a factor of three, the scientists say.</p>
<p>The findings, which could be applied essentially immediately, are reported this week in the journal <em>RSC Advances</em>, in a paper by Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering; Jacopo Buongiorno, the TEPCO Professor and associate head of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering; and five others at MIT and George Mason University.</p>
<p><img alt="Infrared video shows how a sample of the treated neoprene (right) takes much longer to cool off than a similar sample that has not been treated (at left)." src="/sites/mit.edu.newsoffice/files/arctic-wetsuit-gif2.gif" style="width: 500px; height: 488px;" /></p>
<p>The process they discovered works by simply placing the standard neoprene wetsuit inside a pressure tank autoclave no bigger than a beer keg, filled with a heavy inert gas, for about a day. The treatment then lasts for about 20 hours, far longer than anyone would spend on a dive, explains Buongiorno, who is an avid wetsuit user himself. (He competed in a triathlon just last week.) The process could also be done in advance, with the wetsuit placed in a sealed bag to be opened just before use, he says.</p>
<p>Though Buongiorno and Strano are both on the MIT faculty, they had never met until they were both part of the Defense Science Study Group for the Department of Defense. “We got to visit a lot of bases, and met with all kinds of military people up to four-star generals,” says Buongiorno, whose specialty in nuclear engineering has to do with heat transfer, especially through water. They learned about the military’s particular needs and were asked to design a technological project to address one of those needs. After meeting with a group of Navy SEALs, the elite special-operations diving corps, they decided the need for longer-lasting protection in icy waters was one that they could take on.</p>
<p>They looked at the different strategies that various animals use to survive in these frigid waters, and found three types: air pockets trapped in fur or feathers, as with otters and penguins; internally generated heat, as with some animals and fish (including great white sharks, which, surprisingly, are warm-blooded); or a layer of insulating material that greatly slows heat loss from the body, as with seals’ and whales’ blubber.</p>
<p>In the end, after simulations and lab tests, they ended up with a combination of two of these — a blubber-like insulating material that also makes use of trapped pockets of gas, although in this case the gas is not air but a heavy inert gas, namely xenon or krypton.</p>
<p>The material that has become standard for wetsuits is neoprene, an inexpensive material that is a mix of synthetic rubber materials processed into a kind of foam, producing a closed-cell structure similar to styrofoam. Trapped within that structure, occupying more than two-thirds of the volume and accounting for half of the heat that gets transferred through it, are pockets of air.</p>
<p>Strano and Buongiorno found that if the trapped air is replaced with xenon or krypton, the material’s insulating properties increase dramatically. The result, they say, is a material with the lowest heat transfer of any wetsuit ever made. “We set a world record for the world’s lowest thermal conductivity garment,” Strano says — conductivity almost as low as air itself. “It’s like wearing a coat of air.”</p>
<p>They found this could improve survivability in water colder than 10 degrees Celsius, raising it from less than one hour to two or three hours.</p>
<p>The result could be a boon not just to those in the most extreme environments, but to anyone who uses wetsuits in cold waters, including swimmers, athletes, and surfers, as well as professional divers of all kinds.</p>
<p>“As part of this project, I interviewed dozens of wetsuit users, including a professional underwater photographer, divers working at the New England Aquarium, a Navy SEAL friend of mine, and random surfers I approached on a San Diego beach,” says co-author and former MIT postdoc Jeffrey Moran PhD ’17, who is now an assistant professor at George Mason University. “The feedback was essentially unanimous — there is an urgent need for warmer wetsuits, both in and out of the Arctic. People's eyes lit up when I told them about our results.”</p>
<p>Currently, the only viable cold-water alternatives to wetsuits are dry suits, which have a layer of air between the suit and the skin that must be maintained using a hose and a pump, or a warm-water suit, which similarly requires a hose and pump connection. In either case, a failure of the pump or a cut or tear in the suit can result is a quick loss of insulation that can be life threatening within minutes.</p>
<p>But the xenon- or krypton-infused neoprene requires no such support system and has no way of quickly losing its insulating properties, and so does not carry that risk. “We can take anyone’s neoprene wetsuit and pressurize it with xenon or krypton for high-performance operations,” Strano says. MIT graduate student Anton Cottrill, a co-author of the paper, adds, “The gas actually infuses more quickly during treatment than it discharges during its use in an aquatic environment.”</p>
<p>Another possibility, they say, is to produce a wetsuit with the same insulating properties as present ones, but with a small fraction of the thickness, allowing more comfort and freedom of movement that might be appealing to athletes. “Almost everyone I interviewed also said they wanted a wetsuit that was easier to move around in and to put on and take off,” says Moran. “The results of this project suggest that we could make wetsuits that provide the same thermal insulation as traditional ones, but are about half as thick.”</p>
<p>One next step in their research is to look at ways of making a long-term, stable version of a xenon-infused neoprene, perhaps by bonding a protective layer over it, they say. In the meantime, the team is also looking for opportunities to treat the neoprene garments of interested users so that they can collect performance data.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>“Their approach to the problem is a remarkable feat of materials science and also very clever engineering,” says John Dabiri, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and of mechanical engineering at Stanford University, who was not involved in this work. “They’ve managed to achieve something close to an ideal air-like thermal barrier, and they’ve accomplished this using materials that are more compatible with end-uses like scuba diving than previous concepts. The overall performance characteristics could be a game-changer for a variety of applications.”</p>
<p>And Charles Amsler, a professor of biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who has made almost 950 research dives in Antartica but was not connected with this research, says, “It could be very beneficial in cases where flexibility, lack of bulkiness, swimming speed, or reduced drag with diver propulsion vehicles are at a premium, or where environmental hazards make the chance of dive suit puncture high. Normally, diver thermal protection in very cold water is by use of dry suits rather than wetsuits. But wetsuits typically allow much more diver flexibility.”</p>
<p>Amsler adds that “One concern with drysuits is that … should the suit be badly punctured, a diver loses much or all of that insulation. … In a deep or long duration dive where staged decompression would be required to prevent decompression illness (“the bends”), wearing one of these thermally enhanced wetsuits would significantly reduce the chance that a diver with a punctured suit would have to make the choice between potentially fatal hypothermia and potentially debilitating or fatal decompression illness.”</p>
<p>The research team also included former MIT postdoc Jeffrey Moran PhD ’17, now at George Mason University; MIT graduate students Anton Cottrill and Zhe Yuan; former postdoc Jesse Benck; and postdoc Pingwei Liu. The work was supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, and the U.S Department of Energy.</p>
From left, graduate student Anton Cottrill, Professor Jacopo Buongiorno and Professor Michael Strano try out their neoprene wetsuits at a pool at MIT’s athletic center. Cottrill is holding the pressure tank used to treat the wetsuits with xenon or krypton.Photo: Susan YoungResearch, Nuclear science and engineering, Chemical engineering, School of Engineering, Invention, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E), Department of Energy (DoE)Robert Langer named 2018 US Science Envoyhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-institute-professor-robert-langer-named-us-science-envoy-0618
Institute Professor chosen to help forge connections and identify opportunities for sustained international cooperation.Mon, 18 Jun 2018 14:45:01 -0400Melanie Miller Kaufman | Department of Chemical Engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-institute-professor-robert-langer-named-us-science-envoy-0618<p>Robert S. Langer, the David H. Koch (1962) Institute Professor at MIT, has been named one of five U.S. Science Envoys for 2018. As a Science Envoy for Innovation, Langer will focus on novel approaches in biomaterials, drug delivery systems, nanotechnology, tissue engineering, and the U.S. approach to research commercialization.</p>
<p>One of 13 Institute Professors at MIT, Langer has written more than 1,400 articles. He also has over 1,300 issued and pending patents worldwide. Langer's patents have been licensed or sublicensed to over 350 pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnology and medical device companies. He is the most cited engineer in history (h-index 253 with over 254,000 citations, according to Google Scholar).</p>
<p>Langer is one of four living individuals to have received both the United States National Medal of Science (2006) and the United States National Medal of Technology and Innovation (2011). He has received over 220 major awards, including the 1998 Lemelson-MIT Prize, the world's largest prize for invention, for being "one of history's most prolific inventors in medicine."</p>
<p>Created in 2010, the Science Envoy Program engages eminent U.S. scientists and engineers to help forge connections and identify opportunities for sustained international cooperation. Science Envoys engage internationally at the citizen and government levels to enhance relationships between other nations and the United States, develop partnerships, and improve collaboration. These scientists leverage their international leadership, influence, and expertise in priority countries to advance solutions to shared science and technology challenges. Science Envoys travel as private citizens and usually serve for one year.</p>
<p>Previous Science Envoys with connections to MIT include Susan Hockfield, president emerita of MIT, and Alice P. Gast, president of Lehigh University and former chemical engineering professor at MIT.</p>
Institute Professor Robert LangerImage: Science History Institute/Wikimedia CommonsAwards, honors and fellowships, National relations and service, Global, Chemical engineering, Invention, Faculty, School of Engineering, Koch Institute, International initiativesQS ranks MIT the world’s No. 1 university for 2018-19https://news.mit.edu/2018/qs-ranks-mit-worlds-no-1-university-2018-19-0606
Ranked at the top for the seventh straight year, the Institute also places first in 12 of 48 disciplines.Wed, 06 Jun 2018 16:00:00 -0400MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/qs-ranks-mit-worlds-no-1-university-2018-19-0606<p>For the seventh year in a row MIT has topped the QS World University Rankings, which were announced today.</p>
<p>The full 2018-19 rankings — published by Quacquarelli Symonds, an organization specializing in education and study abroad — can be found at <a href="https://www.topuniversities.com/qs-world-university-rankings">topuniversities.com</a>. The QS rankings were based on academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per faculty, student-to-faculty ratio, proportion of international faculty, and proportion of international students. MIT earned a perfect overall score of 100.</p>
<p>MIT was also ranked the world’s top university in <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-no-1-2018-qs-world-university-rankings-subjects-0228">12 of 48 disciplines ranked by QS</a>, as announced in February of this year.</p>
<p>MIT received a No. 1 ranking in the following QS subject areas: Architecture/Built Environment; Linguistics; Chemical Engineering; Civil and Structural Engineering; Computer Science and Information Systems; Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering; Chemistry; Materials Science; Mathematics; Physics and Astronomy; and Statistics and Operational Research. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Additional high-ranking MIT subjects include: Art and Design (No. 4), Biological Sciences (No. 2), Earth and Marine Sciences (No. 3), Environmental Sciences (No. 3), Accounting and Finance (No. 2), Business and Management Studies (No. 4), and Economics and Econometrics (No. 2).</p>
Photo: AboveSummit with Christopher HartingRankings, Architecture, Chemical engineering, Chemistry, Civil and environmental engineering, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs), Economics, Linguistics, Materials Science and Engineering, DMSE, Mechanical engineering, Aeronautical and astronautical engineering, Physics, Business and management, Accounting, Finance, Arts, Design, Mathematics, EAPS, School of Architecture and Planning, School of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences, School of Science, School of Engineering, Sloan School of ManagementMIT Energy Initiative awards nine Seed Fund grants for early-stage energy researchhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-energy-initiative-awards-nine-seed-fund-grants-early-stage-energy-research-0601
Awardees will use grants to advance research in areas including energy storage, renewables expansion modeling, and the chemistry of electrocatalysts.Fri, 01 Jun 2018 12:30:01 -0400Francesca McCaffrey | MIT Energy Initiativehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-energy-initiative-awards-nine-seed-fund-grants-early-stage-energy-research-0601<p>In spring 2018, the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) awarded nine grants totaling $1,350,000 through its&nbsp;<a href="http://energy.mit.edu/funding/" target="_blank">Seed Fund Program</a>, an annual competition that supports early-stage innovative research across the energy spectrum. The awardees will be using the $150,000 grants to explore highly creative and promising energy research projects.</p>
<p>“This is an extremely competitive process,” said MITEI Director&nbsp;<a href="http://energy.mit.edu/profile/robert-armstrong/" target="_blank">Robert C. Armstrong</a>, the Chevron Professor of Chemical Engineering. “Every year the submissions we receive are incredibly impressive, and this year was no exception. Our grantees are remarkable in their creative, interdisciplinary approaches to addressing key global energy and climate challenges.”</p>
<p>To date, MITEI has supported 170 projects with grants totaling approximately $22.75 million. These projects have covered a variety of energy research areas, from fundamental physics and chemistry to engineering to policy and economics, and have drawn from all five MIT schools and 28 departments, labs, and centers.</p>
<p>Seed grant awardees run the gamut from established professors to new faculty members. This year, six of the nine grant recipients are first-time awardees — including four researchers early in their careers at MIT.</p>
<p><strong>The chemistry of energy</strong></p>
<p>While research in the lab can be critical to advancing energy technologies, computer simulations are also valuable, serving as an efficient testing ground where new ideas can be explored rapidly and at low risk. Simulations at the atomic level can be especially valuable in discovering new energy materials and in investigating chemical change in energy generation and storage. But the computational cost associated with such “atomistic” simulations can be extremely high — a problem that Professor&nbsp;<a href="http://energy.mit.edu/profile/rafael-gomez-bombarelli/" target="_blank">Rafael Gomez-Bombarelli</a>&nbsp;and his team will be addressing in their project. Gomez-Bombarelli, the Toyota Assistant Professor in Materials Processing, plans to use machine learning to create software that, by leveraging already existing computational results, can accelerate high-accuracy quantum-chemical calculations, reducing the cost incurred.</p>
<p>“We will use existing computer simulations that took many years of computer time to automatically learn consistent patterns about the behavior of matter in energy processes,” says Gomez-Bombarelli. “This newly gained information will make chemically accurate simulations thousands of times faster and accelerate the predictive design of more efficient and sustainable fuels, photovoltaic materials, solid-state lighting, battery chemicals, and industrial catalysts.”</p>
<p><a href="http://energy.mit.edu/profile/karthish-manthiram/" target="_blank">Karthish Manthiram</a>, an assistant professor of chemical engineering, is approaching energy generation and storage from a different angle. His team is investigating lithium-based materials as electrocatalysts for nitrogen reduction, a key step in the production of ammonia, which is a potential route for storing electrical energy from intermittent renewable sources in a liquid fuel. The intrinsic reactivity of lithium makes it a prime candidate for use in catalysis, potentially beginning a new chapter in liquid fuel creation and energy storage.</p>
<p><strong>Making a better grid: Batteries and economics</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://energy.mit.edu/profile/betar-gallant/" target="_blank">Betar Gallant</a>, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, won a seed grant for her team’s research into calcium as a promising anode for low-cost, high-energy-density batteries. Such batteries, if successfully developed, can play critical roles in ensuring stability on a renewables-heavy power grid and also in achieving the electrification of our transportation system. Today, the most common electric-vehicle battery pack on the market is the lithium-ion battery, but improvements in gravimetric and volumetric energy density are needed to achieve longer driving ranges. While widespread efforts have focused on developing the lithium anode to replace the graphite electrode in today’s lithium-ion batteries, lithium metal cycles poorly, is expensive, and raises significant safety concerns. Gallant and others believe there is substantial room for improvement to be made by pursuing alternative metal anodes. Calcium-based batteries possess particularly attractive volumetric energy densities and potentials compared to lithium-based cells and are also safer, less expensive, and potentially more versatile if key challenges can be overcome.</p>
<p>“This field is very much in its infancy; while the lithium anode has been subject to study for decades, researchers have just begun studying the fundamental behavior of calcium-based electrodes,” Gallant says. “Among the most significant challenges facing calcium electrodes are limited round-trip efficiency and poor cycleability. If these challenges can be overcome, the calcium electrode will be unlocked for use in a wide range of advanced battery chemistries and will open new and exciting avenues for research and development.”</p>
<p><a href="http://energy.mit.edu/profile/jing-li/" target="_blank">Jing Li</a>, an incoming MIT Sloan School of Management faculty member, and her team plan to produce a more accurate cost-reduction curve for batteries by developing models based on fundamental materials and underlying science and then estimating them using data on the design, structure, cost, and quantities of batteries used in commercial products on the market. Results should help clarify why battery costs have decreased dramatically in recent years and whether that trend will continue in the future.</p>
<p>Li’s team will also examine what changes in the regulatory structure of electricity markets are needed in light of expanding energy storage capacity. The goal is to understand who should own and operate energy storage units on the grid and the social welfare implications of different options for energy storage ownership. The researchers will model the decision-making strategies of potential owners, including private firms and system operators, to determine possible impacts on market outcomes, including prices, quantities, and costs.</p>
<p><strong>Deep expertise, new ideas</strong></p>
<p>Joining those four early-career researchers were several faculty members with long, deep experience in their areas of expertise. First-time seed grant winner&nbsp;<a href="http://energy.mit.edu/profile/ignacio-perez-arriaga/" target="_blank">Ignacio Pérez-Arriaga</a>, a visiting professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, is leading a study that combines electricity and economic modeling with policy analysis of renewable portfolio standards and other incentives meant to encourage renewable energy growth in the United States. The goal is to determine the mix of renewable energy generation types that will ensure high reliability in a given state as well as the most cost-effective capacity expansion strategy for renewables, given differing natural resources and energy and environmental regulations across the country.</p>
<p>Chemistry Professor&nbsp;<a href="http://energy.mit.edu/profile/timothy-swager/" target="_blank">Tim Swager</a>&nbsp;is also a first-time seed grantee. His team’s research focuses on a new approach to generating polymer membranes with three-dimensional porosity. Such membranes are used in chemical separations to transport ions in fuel cells as well as in processes related to chemical production and water purification. Separations often account for the majority of energy consumed during such processes, so improving their effectiveness is critical. Swager’s group is also focusing on related materials that have great potential for gas separations and on applying new ion-conducting materials to enable chemical and electrochemical transformations.</p>
<p><strong>Growing long-term innovation</strong></p>
<p>Seed grants may target early-stage energy research, but MITEI’s hope is that this research will continue and lead to practical solutions to real-world problems. Several past seed fund projects have made progress in that direction since their initial grants.</p>
<p>For example, 2016 grantee&nbsp;<a href="http://energy.mit.edu/profile/marta-gonzalez/" target="_blank">Marta Gonzalez</a>, a visiting associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and her team developed an electric-vehicle planning app called Human Mobility, Energy and Autonomy, or HUMEA. As described in a paper published in <em>Nature Energy</em> in April, the app aims to make owning and operating an electric vehicle (EV) in the city easier and less disruptive to the power grid by connecting a network of electric vehicles and optimizing the schedule for when and where they should charge. “Most people begin charging their EV when they get to work and then unplug around 6 p.m. when they leave,” says Gonzalez. “Power operators can’t handle that kind of steep peak. We want to incentivize individuals to bring the trend to an overall flatter demand.” People using the app can create personalized energy profiles that will point out openings in their schedules when they can charge outside of peak times.</p>
<p>Funding for the new grants comes chiefly from MITEI’s founding and sustaining members, supplemented by gifts from generous donors.</p>
<p>Recipients of MITEI Seed Fund grants for spring 2018 are:</p>
<ul>
<li>"3D porosity: Approaches to new generations of polymer membranes" — Tim Swager of the Department of Chemistry;</li>
<li>"Carbon capture from chemical processes in the intermediate temperature range" — T. Alan Hatton of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Alexie Kolpak of the Department of Mechanical Engineering;</li>
<li>"Deep learning of contracted basis sets for rapid quantum calculation of thermochemistry and other energy processes" — Rafael Gomez-Bombarelli of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering;</li>
<li>"Economics of energy storage" — Jing Li of the MIT Energy Initiative;</li>
<li>"Effective capacity expansion of renewable electricity with mosaic design of state energy and environmental regulations in the United States" — Ignacio Pérez-Arriaga of the MIT Sloan School of Management;</li>
<li>"Electrochemical ammonia synthesis for modular electrical energy storage" — Karthish Manthiram of the Department of Chemical Engineering;</li>
<li>"Oxidative coupling of methane using ion-conducting ceramic membranes" — Ahmed Ghoniem of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Bilge Yildiz of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering;</li>
<li>"Scalable nanoporous membranes for energy-efficient chemical separations" — Jeffrey Grossman of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering; and</li>
<li>"Unlocking the rechargeability of calcium for high-energy-density batteries" — Betar Gallant of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.</li>
</ul>
Left to right: Seed Fund awardees Ahmed Ghoniem, Betar Gallant, Karthish Manthiram, and Bilge Yildiz. Photo: Kelley Travers/MIT Energy InitiativeFunding, Grants, MIT Energy Initiative, Research, Faculty, Energy, Chemistry, Chemical engineering, Mechanical engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, DMSE, Sloan School of Management, Nuclear science and engineering, School of Engineering, School of ScienceJ-WAFS awards over $1.3 million in fourth round of seed grant fundinghttps://news.mit.edu/2018/j-wafs-fourth-round-seed-grant-funding-0525
Eleven principal investigators from six MIT departments will receive grants totaling over $1.3 million, overhead free, for research on food and water challenges.Fri, 25 May 2018 12:00:01 -0400Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Labhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/j-wafs-fourth-round-seed-grant-funding-0525<p>Today, the Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab (J-WAFS) at MIT announced the award of over $1.3 million in research funding through its seed grant program, now in its fourth year. These grants, which are available to the MIT community, are the cornerstone of MIT’s Institute-wide effort to catalyze solutions-oriented research in water and food systems that target the safety and resilience of the world’s vital resources.&nbsp;</p>
<p>This year, seven new projects led by eleven faculty PIs across six MIT departments will be funded with two-year grants of up to $200,000, overhead free. The winning projects include a silk-based food safety sensor; research into climate vulnerability and resilience in agriculture using biological engineering as well as crop modeling and sensors; an archeological and materials engineering approach to understanding fertile tropical soils; and three different strategies for water purification and management.</p>
<p>The reach of the J-WAFS’s seed grants across the Institute is wide and reflects how faculty from all schools at MIT are invested in addressing the critical challenges that face our most essential global resources. This J-WAFS call for seed research proposals attracted 54 principal investigators, nearly twice the number that submitted proposals in 2017. What is more, 38 of these PIs were proposing to J-WAFS for the first time. “The J-WAFS seed grants continue to stimulate new thinking about how to address some of our most serious water and food problems, whether by new junior faculty at MIT or senior professors,” noted Renee Robins, executive director of J-WAFS.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Faculty from six departments were funded under this year's awards, including the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Materials Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Mechanical Engineering.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>New approaches to ensure safe drinking water</strong></p>
<p>The problem of arsenic contamination in water occurs throughout the globe, and is particularly extreme in South Asia, where over 100 million people in Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Cambodia, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Myanmar experience daily exposure to dangerous concentrations of arsenic that occurs naturally in groundwater. Yet the poorly understood behavior of arsenic in groundwater makes it challenging to identify safe sources of drinking water. Charlie Harvey, professor of civil and environmental engineering, has conducted extensive field research on &nbsp;this issue. With J-WAFS funding, Harvey will consolidate data and develop models to identify and disseminate more effective groundwater management strategies that take into account how and where dangerous concentrations of arsenic exist.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Julia Ortony, the Finmeccanica Career Development Assistant Professor of Engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, will be taking a different approach to arsenic contamination. Her lab develops molecular nanomaterials for environmental contaminant remediation. A J-WAFS seed grant will support her development of a robust, high surface-area material made of small molecules that can be designed to sequester arsenic from drinking water.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Boron is an essential micronutrient for both plants and animals, but becomes toxic at higher concentrations. However, due to its small molecular size and un-charged chemical structure, it is particularly difficult to remove with standard water purification technologies. Zachary P. Smith, the Joseph R. Mares Career Development Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, is taking advantage of advancements in molecular level synthesis of metal-organic framework (MOF) materials to open the door to a new generation of highly selective membranes for water purification and desalination that can remove boron. Leveraging techniques and expertise at the interface of inorganic chemistry, materials science, and chemical engineering, Smith aims to achieve technical breakthroughs in water purification with this J-WAFS funding.</p>
<p><strong>Improving understanding of soil and climate impacts on agriculture for improved crop production</strong></p>
<p>Climate change is bringing temperature and precipitation changes that will increasingly stress the crops our global food system depends on, and these changes will affect regions of the world differently. Breeding plants for increased resilience to stressors such as drought is one solution, but traditional breeding approaches can be extremely slow. In part, this slowness results from the complexity of plants’ response to environmental stress. David Des Marais, assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering, and Caroline Uhler, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science want to better understand this complexity in order to improve future practices to breed plants for stress tolerance. By combining Des Marais’ expertise in plant-environment interaction and sustainable agriculture with Uhler’s statistical approaches to studying networks, the team will develop new analytical tools to understand the structure and dynamics of the gene regulatory networks that plants use to perceive — and respond to — changes in the environment.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Dara Entekhabi, the Bacardi and Stockholm Water Foundations Professor in the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, is taking another approach to understanding the impacts of climate on agricultural production. The project, in collaboration with research scientist Sarah Fletcher from MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, is focused on Sub-Saharan Africa. This region is experiencing very high population growth, and with its largely rain-fed agriculture is particularly vulnerable to anticipated temperature and precipitation changes brought about by climate change. The MIT research team is leading an academic-industry partnership that seeks to understand how crop production in the region responds to year-to-year variation in precipitation in order to assess the future of food security in Africa. They will collaborate with Radiant Earth, a startup that uses a geospatial imagery technology platform to capture and understand the impact of social challenges in the developing world, to develop a better understanding of the impact of climate on food security in Sub-Saharan Africa.&nbsp;</p>
<p>A very different approach to improving agricultural productivity involves better understanding and managing soil fertility. In another innovative multidisciplinary project, three PIs whose expertise spans geoscience, archaeology, and materials engineering will collaborate to improve our understanding of extensive deposits of rich soils known as terra preta (“dark earth” in Portuguese) in the Amazon Basin that pre-Columbian societies created and cultivated between 500 and about 8,700 years ago. Many tropical soils are nutrient-poor and contain little organic carbon, but terra preta is so carbon-rich and fertile that it is still farmed (and destructively mined) today. Researchers are now attempting to reproduce terra preta as part of a strategy for sustainable tropical agriculture and carbon sequestration. A team consisting of Taylor Perron, associate professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, and Dorothy Hosler and Heather Lechtman, both professors of archaeology and ancient technology in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, aims to inform agricultural practices in tropical developing nations by investigating how the rivers of the Amazon region influenced terra preta formation.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Using edible food safety sensors to reduce food waste and disease</strong></p>
<p>While strategies to improve agricultural productivity are critical to global food security, minimizing food loss from farm to table is also considered to be necessary if we are to meet our future food needs. Cost-effective and easy-to-use methods of detecting food spoilage along the food supply chain can help. A. John Hart, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Benedetto Marelli, the Paul M. Cook Career Development Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, have teamed up to find a solution. J-WAFS seed funding is supporting the development of a silk-based food safety sensor, visible to the naked eye, which can change color based on its interaction with common food pathogens. The sensor will take the form of printable inks that are stable under extreme temperatures and also edible. Their aim is to print on food packaging as well as directly on food in order to enable point-of-use detection of contamination and food spoilage for meat and dairy products.</p>
<p>With these seven newly funded projects, J-WAFS will have funded 30 total seed research projects since its founding in 2014. J-WAFS’ director John Lienhard states that “investing in research results in creative innovations in food and water that will enable a sustainable future. &nbsp;Further, these seed grants have repeatedly been leveraged by their recipients to develop significant follow-on programs, that further multiply the impact.”&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>2018 J-WAFS Seed Grant recipients and their projects:</strong></p>
<p>"<a href="https://jwafs.mit.edu/research/projects/2018/novel-systems-biology-tools-improving-crop-tolerance-abiotic-stressors">Novel systems biology tools for improving crop tolerance to abiotic stressors</a>." PIs: David Des Marais, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Caroline Uhler, the Henry L. and Grace Doherty Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Institute for Data, Systems and Society.</p>
<p>"<a href="https://jwafs.mit.edu/research/projects/2018/assessing-climate-vulnerability-west-african-food-security-using-remote">Assessing Climate Vulnerability of West African Food Security using Remote Sensing</a>." PIs: Dara Entekhabi, the Bacardi and Stockholm Water Foundations Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.</p>
<p>"<a href="https://jwafs.mit.edu/research/projects/2018/printed-silk-based-colorimetric-sensors-food-spoilage-prevention-and-supply">Printed Silk-Based Colorimetric Sensors for Food Spoilage Prevention and Supply Chain Authentication</a>." PIs: A. John Hart, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Benedetto Marelli, the Paul M. Cook Career Development Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.</p>
<p>"<a href="https://jwafs.mit.edu/research/projects/2018/what-controls-arsenic-contamination-south-asia-making-sense-two-decades">What controls Arsenic Contamination in South Asia? Making Sense of Two-Decades of Disjointed Data</a>." PI: Charles Harvey, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.</p>
<p>"<a href="https://jwafs.mit.edu/research/projects/2018/supermolecular-nanostructure-gels-chelation-arsenic-drinking-water">Supermolecular nanostructure gels for chelation of arsenic from drinking water</a>." PI: Julia Ortony, the Finmeccanica Career Development Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.</p>
<p>"<a href="https://jwafs.mit.edu/research/projects/2018/anthropogenic-soils-amazon-origins-extent-and-implications-sustainable">Anthropogenic Soils of the Amazon: Origins, Extent, and Implications for Sustainable Tropical Agriculture</a>." PIs: Dorothy Hosler, Professor of Archaeology and Ancient Technology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Heather Lechtman, Professor of Archaeology and Ancient Technology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and J. Taylor Perron, Associate Professor of Geology, Department of Earth, Planetary and Atmospheric Sciences.</p>
<p>"<a href="https://jwafs.mit.edu/research/projects/2018/purifying-water-boron-contamination-highly-selective-metal-organic-framework">Purifying Water from Boron Contamination with Highly Selective Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) Membranes</a>." PI: Zachary Smith, the Joseph R. Mares Career Development Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering.</p>
Seven new projects focusing on solutions to water and food systems challenges, led by 11 faculty principal investigators across five MIT departments, will be funded by the Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab (J-WAFS) with two-year grants of up to $200,000.Grants, Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab (J-WAFS), Funding, Research, Chemical engineering, IDSS, Water, Food, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs), Agriculture, Sensors, Desalination, Sustainability, Pollution, Materials Science and Engineering, DMSE, Invention, Environment, Developing countries, Design, School of Engineering, School of Science, EAPS, Civil and environmental engineering, J-WAFSTiny particles could help fight brain cancerhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/tiny-particles-could-help-fight-brain-cancer-0524
Nanoparticles carrying two drugs can cross the blood-brain barrier and shrink glioblastoma tumors.Thu, 24 May 2018 12:00:00 -0400Anne Trafton | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/tiny-particles-could-help-fight-brain-cancer-0524<p>Glioblastoma multiforme, a type of brain tumor, is one of the most difficult-to-treat cancers. Only a handful of drugs are approved to treat glioblastoma, and the median life expectancy for patients diagnosed with the disease is less than 15 months.</p>
<p>MIT researchers have now devised a new drug-delivering nanoparticle that could offer a better way to treat glioblastoma. The particles, which carry two different drugs, are designed so that they can easily cross the blood-brain barrier and bind directly to tumor cells. One drug damages tumor cells’ DNA, while the other interferes with the systems cells normally use to repair such damage.</p>
<p>In a study of mice, the researchers showed that the particles could shrink tumors and prevent them from growing back.</p>
<p>“What is unique here is we are not only able to use this mechanism to get across the blood-brain barrier and target tumors very effectively, we are using it to deliver this unique drug combination,” says Paula Hammond, a David H. Koch Professor in Engineering, the head of MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering, and a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.</p>
<p>Hammond and Scott Floyd, a former Koch Institute clinical investigator who is now an associate professor of radiation oncology at Duke University School of Medicine, are the senior authors of the paper, which appears in <em>Nature Communications</em>. The paper’s lead author is Fred Lam, a Koch Institute research scientist.</p>
<p><strong>Targeting the brain</strong></p>
<p>The nanoparticles used in this study are based on particles <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2014/chemotherapy-timing-key-success-0508">originally designed</a> by Hammond and former MIT graduate student Stephen Morton, who is also an author of the new paper. These spherical droplets, known as liposomes, can carry one drug in their core and the other in their fatty outer shell.</p>
<p>To adapt the particles to treat brain tumors, the researchers had to come up with a way to get them across the blood-brain barrier, which separates the brain from circulating blood and prevents large molecules from entering the brain.</p>
<p>The researchers found that if they coated the liposomes with a protein called transferrin, the particles could pass through the blood-brain barrier with little difficulty. Furthermore, transferrin also binds to proteins found on the surface of tumor cells, allowing the particles to accumulate directly at the tumor site while avoiding healthy brain cells.</p>
<p>This targeted approach allows for delivery of large doses of chemotherapy drugs that can have unwanted side effects if injected throughout the body. Temozolomide, which is usually the first chemotherapy drug given to glioblastoma patients, can cause bruising, nausea, and weakness, among other side effects.</p>
<p>Building on prior work from Floyd and Yaffe on the DNA-damage response of tumors, the researchers packaged temozolomide into the inner core of the liposomes, and in the outer shell they embedded an experimental drug called a bromodomain inhibitor. Bromodomain inhibitors are believed to interfere with cells’ ability to repair DNA damage. By combining these two drugs, the researchers created a one-two punch that first disrupts tumor cells’ DNA repair mechanisms, then launches an attack on the cells’ DNA while their defenses are down.</p>
<p>The researchers tested the nanoparticles in mice with glioblastoma tumors and showed that after the nanoparticles reach the tumor site, the particles’ outer layer degrades, releasing the bromodomain inhibitor JQ-1. About 24 hours later, temozolomide is released from the particle core.</p>
<p>The researchers’ experiments revealed that drug-delivering nanoparticles coated with transferrin were far more effective at shrinking tumors than either uncoated nanoparticles or temozolomide and JQ-1 injected into the bloodstream on their own. The mice treated with the transferrin-coated nanoparticles survived for twice as long as mice that received other treatments.</p>
<p>“This is yet another example where the combination of nanoparticle delivery with drugs involving the DNA-damage response can be used successfully to treat cancer,” says Michael Yaffe, a David H. Koch Professor of Science and member of the Koch Institute, who is also an author of the paper.</p>
<p><strong>Novel therapies</strong></p>
<p>In the mouse studies, the researchers found that animals treated with the targeted nanoparticles experienced much less damage to blood cells and other tissues normally harmed by temozolomide. The particles are also coated with a polymer called polyethylene glycol (PEG), which helps protect the particles from being detected and broken down by the immune system. PEG and all of the other components of the liposomes are already FDA-approved for use in humans.</p>
<p>“Our goal was to have something that could be easily translatable, by using simple, already approved synthetic components in the liposome,” Lam says. “This was really a proof-of-concept study [showing] that we can deliver novel combination therapies using a targeted nanoparticle system across the blood-brain barrier.”</p>
<p>JQ-1, the bromodomain inhibitor used in this study, would likely not be well-suited for human use because its half-life is too short, but other bromodomain inhibitors are now in clinical trials.</p>
<p>The researchers anticipate that this type of nanoparticle delivery could also be used with other cancer drugs, including many that have never been tried against glioblastoma because they couldn’t get across the blood-brain barrier.</p>
<p>“Because there’s such a short list of drugs that we can use in brain tumors, a vehicle that would allow us to use some of the more common chemotherapy regimens in brain tumors would be a real game-changer,” Floyd says. “Maybe we could find efficacy for more standard chemotherapies if we can just get them to the right place by working around the blood-brain barrier with a tool like this.”</p>
<p>The research was funded by the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program; a KI Quinquennial Cancer Research Fellowship; the Bridge Project, a partnership between the Koch Institute and the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center; and the Koch Institute Support (core) Grant from the National Cancer Institute.</p>
MIT researchers have designed brain-tumor-targeting nanoparticles that can carry two different drugs, one in the core and one in the outer shell.Image: Stephen Morton Research, Cancer, Drug delivery, Chemical engineering, Biology, Nanoscience and nanotechnology, Koch Institute, School of Engineering, School of Science, Medicine, National Science Foundation (NSF)A single-injection vaccine for the polio virushttps://news.mit.edu/2018/single-injection-vaccine-polio-virus-0521
Nanoparticles could offer a new way to help eradicate the disease worldwide.Mon, 21 May 2018 14:59:59 -0400Anne Trafton | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/single-injection-vaccine-polio-virus-0521<p>A new nanoparticle vaccine developed by MIT researchers could assist efforts to eradicate polio worldwide. The vaccine, which delivers multiple doses in just one injection, could make it easier to immunize children in remote regions of Pakistan and other countries where the disease is still found.&nbsp;</p>
<p>While the number of reported cases of polio dropped by 99 percent worldwide between 1988 and 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the disease has not been completely eradicated, in part because of the difficulty in reaching children in remote areas to give them the two to four polio vaccine injections required to build up immunity.</p>
<p>“Having a one-shot vaccine that can elicit full protection could be very valuable in being able to achieve eradication,” says Ana Jaklenec, a research scientist at MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and one of the senior authors of the paper. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT, is also a senior author of the study, which appears in the <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em> the week of May 21. Stephany Tzeng, a former MIT postdoc who is now a research associate at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is the paper’s lead author.</p>
<p>“We are very excited about the approaches and results in this paper, which I hope will someday lead to better vaccines for patients around the world,”&nbsp;Langer says.</p>
<p><strong>Global eradication</strong></p>
<p>There are no drugs against poliovirus, and in about 1 percent of cases, it enters the nervous system, where it can cause paralysis. The first polio vaccine, also called the Salk vaccine, was developed in the 1950s. This vaccine consists of an inactivated version of the virus, which is usually given as a series of two to four injections, beginning at 2 months of age. In 1961, an oral vaccine was developed, which offers some protection with only one dose but is more effective with two to three doses.</p>
<p>The oral vaccine, which consists of a virus that has reduced virulence but is still viable, has been phased out in most countries because in very rare cases, it can mutate to a virulent form and cause infection. It is still used in some developing countries, however, because it is easier to administer the drops than to reach children for multiple injections of the Salk vaccine.</p>
<p>For polio eradication efforts to succeed, the oral vaccine must be completely phased out, to eliminate the chance of the virus reactivating in an immunized person. Several years ago, Langer’s lab received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to try to develop an injectable vaccine that could be given just once but carry multiple doses.</p>
<p>“The goal is to ensure that everyone globally is immunized,” Jaklenec says. “Children in some of these hard-to-reach developing world locations tend to not get the full series of shots necessary for protection.”</p>
<p>To create a single-injection vaccine, the MIT team encapsulated the inactivated polio vaccine in a biodegradable polymer known as PLGA. This polymer can be designed to degrade after a certain period of time, allowing the researchers to control when the vaccine is released.</p>
<p>“There’s always a little bit of vaccine that’s left on the surface or very close to the surface of the particle, and as soon as we put it in the body, whatever is at the surface can just diffuse away. That’s the initial burst,” Tzeng says. “Then the particles sit at the injection site and over time, as the polymer degrades, they release the vaccine in bursts at defined time points, based on the degradation rate of the polymer.”</p>
<p>The researchers had to overcome one major obstacle that has stymied previous efforts to use PLGA for polio vaccine delivery: The polymer breaks down into byproducts called glycolic acid and lactic acid, and these acids can harm the virus so that it no longer provokes the right kind of antibody response.</p>
<p>To prevent this from happening, the MIT team added positively charged polymers to their particles. These polymers act as “proton sponges,” sopping up extra protons and making the environment less acidic, allowing the virus to remain stable in the body.</p>
<p>“I think the beauty of&nbsp;the paper is that the traditional microparticle formulation design principles for antigen stabilization are applicable to the delivery of a very complex antigen system. Single dose vaccination for developing world applications is a Holy Grail, and they are getting close,” says David Putnam, a professor of biomedical engineering and chemical and biomolecular engineering at Cornell University who was not involved in the research.</p>
<p><strong>Successful immunization</strong></p>
<p>In the <em>PNAS</em> study, the researchers designed particles that would deliver an initial burst at the time of injection, followed by a second release about 25 days later. They injected the particles into rats, then sent blood samples from the immunized rats to the Centers for Disease Control for testing. Those studies revealed that the blood samples from rats immunized with the single-injection particle vaccine had an antibody response against poliovirus just as strong as, or stronger than, antibodies from rats that received two injections of Salk polio vaccine.</p>
<p>To deliver more than two doses, the researchers say they could design particles that release vaccine at injection and one month later, and mix them with particles that release at injection and two months later, resulting in three overall doses, each a month apart. The polymers that the researchers used in the vaccines are already FDA-approved for use in humans, so they hope to soon be able to test the vaccines in clinical trials.</p>
<p>The researchers are also working on applying this approach to create stable, single-injection vaccines for other viruses such as Ebola and HIV.</p>
<p>The research was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.</p>
MIT researchers developed these polymer microspheres containing polio vaccine that can be released in two separate bursts.Courtesy of the researchersResearch, Chemical engineering, Nanoscience and nanotechnology, Koch Institute, School of Engineering, Drug delivery, Drug development, Developing countries, Medicine, Disease, Vaccines, MicrobesApplying machine learning to challenges in the pharmaceutical industryhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/applying-machine-learning-to-challenges-in-pharmaceutical-industry-0517
MIT researchers and industry form new consortium to aid the drug discovery process.Thu, 17 May 2018 11:50:01 -0400Stefanie Koperniak | Department of Chemical Engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/applying-machine-learning-to-challenges-in-pharmaceutical-industry-0517<p>MIT continues its efforts to transform the process of drug design and manufacturing with a new MIT-industry consortium, the <a href="http://mlpds.mit.edu/" target="_blank">Machine Learning for Pharmaceutical Discovery and Synthesis</a>. The new consortium already includes eight industry partners, all major players in the pharmaceutical field, including Amgen, BASF, Bayer, Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer, Sunovion, and WuXi. A large number of these have a research presence in Cambridge or the surrounding areas, allowing for close cooperation and the creation of a center for artificial intelligence (AI) applications in pharmaceuticals.</p>
<p>The drug discovery process can often be exceedingly expensive and time-consuming, but machine learning offers tremendous opportunities to more efficiently access and understand vast amounts of chemical data — with great potential to improve both processes and outcomes. The consortium aims to break down the divide between machine learning research at MIT and drug discovery research — bringing MIT researchers and industry together to identify and address the most significant problems.</p>
<p>As part of the broader initiative to bring together machine learning and drug research, in April, MIT hosted a summit led by <a href="http://people.csail.mit.edu/regina/" target="_blank">Regina Barzilay</a>, the Delta Electronics Professor of Computer Science, and <a href="https://www.csail.mit.edu/person/dina-katabi" target="_blank">Dina Katabi</a>, the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. The summit gathered MIT researchers with leaders of technology, biotech, and regulatory agencies to engage in ways digital technologies and artificial intelligence can help address major challenges in the biomedical and health care industries.<br />
<br />
The earliest seeds for the consortium began with software and technology funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) “Make-It” program, which has the goal of integrating machine learning with automated systems for chemical synthesis. MIT researchers discussed the potential for a consortium with pharmaceutical industry contacts, initially meeting with company representatives in May 2017 and again in September 2017 — at which time there was great interest from both industry and MIT researchers in working together. Since then, through work with the MIT Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) and the MIT Technology Licensing Office (TLO), the consortium has been officially formed. A consortium meeting on May 3 brought together industry members and MIT researchers.</p>
<p>“The enthusiasm of the member companies and the potential of machine learning create a tremendous opportunity for advancing the toolbox for medical scientists in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries,” says <a href="https://cheme.mit.edu/profile/klavs-f-jensen/" target="_blank">Klavs Jensen</a>, the Warren K. Lewis Professor of Chemical Engineering and professor of materials science and engineering. &nbsp;</p>
<p>“Machine learning can help plan chemical synthesis pathways and help identify which chemical parts within a molecule contribute to particular properties,” adds Jensen. “Also, this may ultimately lead us to explore new chemical spaces, increase chemical diversity, and give us a larger opportunity to identify suitable compounds that will have specific biological functions.”</p>
<p>The May 3 meeting aimed to introduce the industry members to fundamentals of machine learning through tutorials and joint research projects. Toward this goal, Barzilay taught the first tutorial on the basics of supervised learning; the tutorial covered neural models and focused on representation learning with the goal of preparing participants for technical presentations in the afternoon.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>"We are at the beginning of a relatively unexplored field with endless opportunities for new science, which has real impact on people's lives,” says Barzilay.&nbsp;“Our colleagues from the pharmaceutical industry care about science the way we do at MIT — this is key to successful collaboration.&nbsp;I am&nbsp;continuously learning from them and getting new problems to think about.”</p>
<p>Barzilay says that one of the goals of the consortium is to establish evaluation standards and create benchmark datasets for assessing the accuracy of machine learning methods. Currently, most research groups evaluate their results on proprietary datasets, which prevents comparison across different models — and slows scientific progress. To make the matters worse, many publicly available datasets are not representative of the real complexities that pharma researchers are facing.&nbsp;</p>
<p>“It is for the benefit of everybody — both researchers and users of new technology — to really understand where we stand and what is true capacity of new machine learning technology," Barzilay says.</p>
<p>MIT principal investigators for the consortium span different areas and departments, bringing expertise in machine learning, chemistry, and chemical engineering. In addition to professors Jensen and Barzilay, PIs include: <a href="https://cheme.mit.edu/profile/william-h-green/" target="_blank">William H. Green</a>, the Hoyt C. Hottel Professor in Chemical Engineering; <a href="https://people.csail.mit.edu/tommi/" target="_blank">Tommi Jaakkola</a>, the Thomas Siebel Professor of&nbsp;Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and&nbsp;the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society; and <a href="http://chemistry.mit.edu/people/jamison-timothy" target="_blank">Timothy Jamison</a>, the Robert R. Taylor Professor and head of the Department of Chemistry.</p>
<p>“By marrying chemical insights with modern machine learning concepts and methods, we are opening new avenues for designing, understanding, optimizing, and synthesizing drugs,” says Jaakkola. “The consortium contributes to lifting chemistry to the realm of data science and bringing about a new interdisciplinary area akin to computational biology, with its own key questions and goals. The collaboration also offers a new training ground for students and researchers alike.”</p>
<p>At the recent consortium meeting, Connor Coley, a graduate student in the Department of Chemical Engineering who works in the research groups of professors Green and Jensen, presented an overview and demonstration of synthesis planning software — which could have an especially significant impact in the area of small molecule discovery and development. (Some aspects of this synthesis planning work are summarized in the recent paper, “<a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.accounts.8b00087" target="_blank">Machine Learning in Computer-Aided Synthesis Planning</a>.”) Coley says that although synthesis planning software has existed for decades, no system has yet achieved widespread adoption.</p>
<p>“We're in a unique position now where access to large amounts of chemical data and computing power has enabled new approaches that might finally make these tools useful and appealing to practicing chemists,” says Coley. “Synthesis planning has a clear role in early stage discovery, where rapidly identifying synthetic strategies for novel molecules can decrease the cycle time of design-synthesis-test iterations. We're looking forward to working closely with the consortium members to help facilitate the work they do and see our methodologies and tools translated into practice.”</p>
<p>Likewise, industry partners see great value and potential in implementing machine learning approaches.</p>
<p>“The application of machine learning tools provides an opportunity to augment and accelerate drug discovery and development — and get new medicines to patients more quickly,” says Shawn Walker, director of process development of pivotal drug substance technologies at Amgen. “Machine learning tools could help to design the best molecules based on binding affinity and minimizing toxicity, design the best and most cost-effective synthetic processes to manufacture these molecules, and extract insights from disparate sources — including chemical literature and company databases. The possibilities are endless, and we hope that partnering top scientific talent with the best machine learning tools will lead to better outcomes for patients.”</p>
<p>“We are&nbsp;excited to participate in this MIT machine learning consortium, along with our other industry partners,” says José Duca, head of computer aided drug discovery in global discovery chemistry at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. “This consortium will tackle the challenge of efficient and targeted route-planning using state-of-the-art machine learning approaches. Ultimately, we hope this accelerates our ability to make safer, more potent drugs against human disease.”</p>
Delta Electronics Professor of Computer Science Regina Barzilay (left) gives a tutorial on the fundamentals of machine learning.Photo: Gretchen ErtlData, Health care, Machine learning, Chemistry, Chemical engineering, Pharmaceuticals, Drug discovery, Medicine, Algorithms, Industry, Collaboration, School of Science, School of Engineering, Computer science and technology, IDSS, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs), Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL)“Living drug factories” may one day replace injectionshttps://news.mit.edu/2018/sigilon-therapeutics-living-drug-factories-insulin-diabetes-0517
Startup develops implantable, encased cells that live in the body and secrete insulin and other therapeutics.Wed, 16 May 2018 23:59:59 -0400Rob Matheson | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/sigilon-therapeutics-living-drug-factories-insulin-diabetes-0517<p>Patients with diabetes generally rely on constant injections of insulin to control their disease. But MIT spinout Sigilon Therapeutics is developing an implantable, insulin-producing device that may one day make injections obsolete.</p>
<p>Sigilon recently partnered with pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company to develop “living drug factories,” made of encapsulated, engineered cells that can be safely implanted in the body, and produce insulin over the course of months or even years. Down the road, cells may also be engineered to secrete other hormones, proteins, and antibodies.</p>
<p>The technology at Sigilon — based on research performed over the last decade at MIT — has led to creation of a device that encases cells and protects them from the patient’s immune system. This can be combined with engineered cells that produce a target therapeutic, such as insulin. The devices are tiny hydrogel beads, about 1 millimeter in diameter, that can be implanted into the patient through minimally invasive procedures.</p>
<p>“This allows us to have ‘living drug factories’ inside our bodies that can deliver therapeutics, at the right amount and in the right location, as needed,” says co-founder and co-inventor Daniel G. Anderson, an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, and Koch Institute For Integrative Cancer Research. “The hope is that this living device can be placed in a patient, avoid the need for immune-suppression, and provide long-term therapy.”</p>
<p>Sigilon’s other co-founders and co-inventors are Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT; José Oberholzer, a researcher and surgeon, director of the Charles O. Strickler Transplant Center, and professor of surgery and biomedical engineering at the University of Virginia; Arturo Vegas, a former MIT postdoc and now a professor of chemistry at Boston University; and Omid Veiseh, a former MIT postdoc and now a professor of bioengineering at Rice University.</p>
<p><strong>Finding the right material</strong></p>
<p>Today, most patients with diabetes will prick their fingers several times a day to draw blood and test blood-sugar levels. When needed, they’ll inject insulin. It’s an effective treatment but is often dosed incorrectly, leading to uncontrolled blood sugar levels. “Even the most careful, hard-working diabetics have trouble doing it right, so they will often find their blood sugar is too high or too low,” Anderson says.</p>
<p>Another promising treatment, called cell therapy, has been around for decades. In this treatment, a patient receives transplanted human cells that secrete a protein, hormone, or other agent that’s needed to fight a disease or that the patient’s bodies can’t produce. Patients with diabetes, for instance, receive transplanted pancreatic beta cells, from cadavers, which sense blood sugar levels and produce insulin in response.</p>
<p>Some patients using this approach get long-term control of blood-sugar levels, and no longer need to inject insulin, Anderson says. However, these patients have to take immune suppressants, or their immune systems will reject and kill the foreign cells.</p>
<p>In more recent years, researchers have focused on cell encapsulation, surrounding transplanted cells in a thin polymer film to ward off the immune response but still nourish the cells. Such therapies have shown potential to treat cancer, heart failure, hemophilia, glaucoma, and Parkinson’s disease, among other diseases and conditions. But, so far, no treatments have made it to market.</p>
<p>In the mid-2000s, Julia Greenstein of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) reached out to the MIT team for help developing new technological approaches toward islet cell encapsulation. This collaboration resulted in funding from JDRF and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to MIT and Children’s Hospital Boston, to develop commercially viable cell-encapsulation technology for diabetes.</p>
<p>The issue was identifying the right material that protected cells but made them, essentially, invisible to the immune system. Most materials placed in the body lead to scar tissue accumulation, a process called “fibrosis.” When medical devices are covered in scar tissue, for instance, they become isolated from the body, which can block transfer of insulin and cause encapsulated cells to die.</p>
<p>The answer was to chemically modify alginate, a polysaccharide that lines the cell walls of brown algae. When combined with water, alginate can also be made into a gel that can safely encapsulate cells without limiting function. However, the researchers had to ensure the coating would not cause fibrosis. To do so, they attached different molecules to the alginate’s polymer chain, chemically modifying the structure hundreds of times until they found a version that didn’t provoke an immune response.</p>
<p>The end result: “A hydrogel that keeps cells alive and is permeable so that sugar and nutrients can come in and insulin can come out, but still blocks cellular elements of the immune system, like T cells, which can destroy the therapeutic cells inside,” Anderson says.</p>
<p>In three studies, published in <em>Nature Materials </em>in 2015 and in <em>Nature Medicine</em> and<em> Nature Biotechnology </em>in 2016, the researchers implanted cells encapsulated in their hydrogel into animals. They found the cells immediately produced therapeutic amounts of insulin in response to blood sugar levels and kept blood sugar under control over the course of a six-month study. They also found that small capsules of the hydrogel implanted in the subjects, which didn’t contain engineered cells, prevented fibrosis.</p>
<p>“There had been a growing collection of scientific work, taking different approaches to this problem,” Anderson says. “The key challenge was finding materials that avoid scar tissue formation.”</p>
<p><strong>Just the beginning</strong></p>
<p>Langer and Anderson launched Sigilon to commercialize the technology by setting up Sigilon headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with more than $23 million in venture capital.</p>
<p>In early April, Sigilon partnered with Lilly, a worldwide leader in diabetes care, to use Sigilon’s encapsulation technology, called Afibromer, to develop a treatment for type 1 diabetes. Under the agreement, Sigilon will receive an upfront payment of $63 million, an equity investment, and more than $400 million in milestone payments to take the Afibromer devices containing stem-cell-derived pancreatic beta cells through clinical trials.</p>
<p>But that’s just the beginning, Anderson says. “Lilly is a major player in diabetes treatment, and we will take this forward [to treat diabetes],” he says. “But we see this as technology that can be used for many applications.”</p>
<p>Sigilon is working on various other applications, including “sense and respond” therapies, where cells sense biological signals and respond with precise dosage of a target therapeutic. Engineered cells could, for instance, secrete proteins to treat lysosomal storage diseases, where patients lack enzymes to break down lipids or carbohydrates; treat hemophilia with hormone release; or respond to inflammatory mediators with anti-inflammatory proteins.</p>
<p>In the future, Sigilon’s polymer could also be modified as a coating for implanted medical devices, such as coronary stents or insulin pumps. “Wires and shunts and pumps all have problems with scar tissue formation,” Anderson says. “The more we connect things with the body, the more important it will be to have materials that can avoid fibrosis.”</p>
MIT spinout Sigilon Therapeutics has partnered with pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company to develop implantable medical devices that act like “living drug factories,” encapsulating engineered cells that live in the body for months, or years, and produce insulin. Down the road, cells may also be engineered to secrete other hormones, proteins, and antibodies.Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E), Startups, Chemical engineering, Research, Diabetes, Koch Institute, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), Medicine, Medical devices, Pharmaceuticals, Health sciences and technology, Nanoscience and nanotechnology, School of EngineeringShowcasing the results of students&#039; real-world research https://news.mit.edu/2018/showcasing-results-students-real-world-research-0515
SuperUROP and Masterworks participants share the findings of their intensive hands-on projects. Tue, 15 May 2018 16:35:01 -0400Kathryn O'Neill | Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciencehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/showcasing-results-students-real-world-research-0515<p>Dozens of MIT undergraduate and graduate students unveiled the results of extensive research projects during the high-energy SuperUROP Showcase and Masterworks poster sessions at MIT’s Stata Center in late April.</p>
<p>Addressing topics as diverse as gene expression, smart-home sensing, aircraft propulsion, and theater promotion, about 130 participants in the Advanced Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program — better known as <a href="https://superurop.mit.edu/" target="_blank">SuperUROP</a> – presented the results of their yearlong projects in two shifts. Immediately following the SuperUROP sessions, nearly 50 master’s-degree recipients and candidates from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) shared their own research results.</p>
<p>“It’s so satisfying to see the fruition of all this hard work,” said Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of the School of Engineering. “The diversity of projects is impressive, as is the level of rigor.”</p>
<p><strong>SuperUROP Showcase </strong></p>
<p>Senior Nitah Onsongo, a computer science and engineering major (Course 6-3), for example, took advantage of the fact that, thanks to an anonymous donor, SuperUROP now <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2018/cs-hass-superurop-debuts-nine-research-projects-0515" target="_self">supports research involving the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences</a> (SHASS). Onsongo used machine learning, digital media, and web-development languages to create a tool designed to interest more people in theater. The experience left her an enthusiastic proponent of SuperUROP: “I really encourage everybody to enroll in this program sometime during their years here, because it’s helped me to practically apply my skills before going to industry.”</p>
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<p>Junior Stephanie Ren, also in 6-3, took a more traditional technical SuperUROP route. She developed a system that helps a smart-home sensing device keep track of people inside their houses, and she especially enjoyed the time she spent in the lab. “You’re working toward a problem no one has solved yet,” Ren said. “Doing that exploration is very different from taking classes.”</p>
<p>Chandrakasan launched SuperUROP in EECS in 2012, when he was department head. The program expanded to the full School of Engineering in 2015 and to SHASS in 2017. SuperUROP provides students with an intensive graduate-level research experience supported by a two-term seminar, 6.UAR (Seminar in Undergraduate Advanced Research), that covers everything from designing experiments to presenting results. “It’s really a compressed version of life in research,” says Dirk Englund, an associate professor in EECS and an instructor for 6.UAR.</p>
<p>This year’s SuperUROP class includes students from the departments of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro), Biological Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), and Chemical Engineering (ChemE), as well as EECS. Many received titles reflecting the <a href="https://superurop.mit.edu/sponsors/" target="_blank">industrial sponsors, foundations, and alumni donors</a> whose contributions supported their research.</p>
<p>The 2018 SuperUROP Showcase — which featured 66 big-screen electronic poster boards arrayed all along the Vest Student Street on the Stata Center’s first floor — attracted a steady stream of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and industry representatives. Audience members clustered around posters, giving participants a chance to present their work and answer questions in real time.</p>
<p>“It’s a great opportunity to develop professional presentation skills,” said senior Eric Wadkins (6-3), who described for visitors how he used techniques such as Bayesian inference to help a microscope learn where it is on a sample.</p>
<p>“I think the length of the SuperUROP is such that you can really get something done,” said Englund, who supervised Wadkins during the yearlong project and noted that the work has already led to a patent application. In Wadkins’ case, Englund said: “He’s given normal microscope a brain to make decisions on its own.”</p>
<p>Some who attended the event came because it offers an opportunity to get a sneak peek at the research taking place across the Institute. “It’s good to see technology in its earliest and rawest form,” said Jake Harrison, a technology scout for Samsung.</p>
<p>Deborah Campbell, associate technology officer for MIT Lincoln Laboratory, praised the “exceptional quality and diversity” of the 2017-2018 SuperUROP projects. “It was clear that the students learned a lot and made significant contributions to the areas they worked in,” noted Campbell, whose organization sponsored 12 SuperUROP scholars this year. “They communicated this with clear and concise presentations, high-quality posters and demonstrations, and insightful answers to questions.”</p>
<p>Ten SuperUROP Scholars received audience-choice awards for their presentations, including Rene Garcia Franceschini of CEE, Erica Ding of ChemE, and Archis Bhandarkar, Nicholas Charchut, Sharlene Chiu, Emily Damato, Katy Muhlrad, Ryan Prinster, Jason Villanueva, and Larry Wang, all of EECS.</p>
<p>Faculty choices for the best SuperUROP Showcase posters will be announced later on the EECS website.</p>
<p><strong>Masterworks</strong></p>
<p>During the Masterworks session, EECS master’s students presented the results of thesis research leading to the master of engineering and the master of science degree. Their projects addressed questions in fields ranging from health care to robotics to sustainable energy. As the SuperUROP scholars had, Masterworks participants engaged in lively discussions with attendees about their research approaches and results.</p>
<p>After the session, Englund, who co-directed Masterworks with fellow EECS Associate Professor Vinod Vaikuntanathan, presented three “audience-choice” awards for the best Masterworks posters. Rumen Hristov received first place for “Adding Identity to Device-Free Localization Systems in the Wild.” Second place went to Mazdak Abulnaga for “Visualizing the Placenta in a Familiar Way.” Third prize was awarded to Tathagata Srimani for “Energy Efficient Computing from Nanotubes to Negative Capacitance.”</p>
<p>In addition, Rumya Raghavan ’17 won the Masterworks Scavenger Hunt for correctly answering the most questions about research discussed on the posters. All four students received prizes provided by Masterworks sponsor Samsung.</p>
<p>Faculty choices for the best Masterworks posters will be announced later on the EECS website.</p>
Students, faculty, staff, alumni, and industry representatives strolled along the Charles M. Vest Student Street in the Stata Center, viewing research results from 130 year-long SuperUROP projects. Photo: Gretchen ErtlSuperUROP, Research, Students, Undergraduate, Classes and programs, School of Engineering, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs), Aeronautical and astronautical engineering, Biological engineering, Civil and environmental engineering, Chemical engineering, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), School of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences, Graduate, postdoctoralMircea Dincă: Searching for materials that collect and store energyhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/faculty-profile-mircea-dinca-0509
A lifelong fascination with chemistry has led to research on exotic new materials with environmental advantages.Tue, 08 May 2018 23:59:59 -0400David L. Chandler | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/faculty-profile-mircea-dinca-0509<p>Growing up in Romania, Mircea Dincă became fascinated with chemistry at an early age, and by the time he was in high school he was a regular participant — and prizewinner — in chemistry Olympiads there. Those early activities helped him earn a full scholarship to Princeton University, where that interest really took root.</p>
<p>“I got my first taste of chemistry in grade school, and I had six years of chemistry before college,” he recalls. By the age of 15, he had devoured a large tome on general chemistry, and then proceeded to learn as much as he could about all of the natural elements.</p>
<p>When he got to Princeton, he worked with chemistry professor Jeffrey Schwartz, who was “probably the one who had the most influence” on his early career path, says Dincă (pronounced “DINK-uh”), adding, “He had a cynical sense of humor that I enjoyed.” While Dincă had originally set out to work on organic chemistry, Schwartz, who specializes in the interfaces between different materials, “very quietly pushed me more toward materials chemistry.” In the end, “he turned me into a materials chemist,” Dincă says.</p>
<p>After earning his undergraduate degree at Princeton, Dincă moved on to the University of California at Berkeley for his doctoral research, where he worked with chemistry professor Jeffrey Long. “I picked this lab where they were working on fairly new materials,” including unusually porous materials called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which were quite new at the time, he says. “I was really interested in working on some materials research that had some environmental impact.”</p>
<p>Ten years ago, that impulse drew him to MIT, where he worked with then-MIT professor Daniel Nocera on developing materials to create an “<a href="http://news.mit.edu/2011/artificial-leaf-0930">artificial leaf</a>” as a means to capture solar energy and store it in chemical form so it could be used whenever needed. The proof-of-concept device used the power of sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, which could be used, for example, to power a fuel-cell car.</p>
<p>From then on, he says, “I stayed in this realm of environmental and energy research.” And, after Nocera moved from MIT to Harvard University, Dincă actually ended up in Nocera’s old office. Working with Nocera, he says, “I didn’t do anything with MOFs, but I learned a lot about the physical properties, the electronic structure of materials.” And in the process, he says, “I realized that there were very few people who were thinking deeply about the electronic structure of MOFs.” Yet those compounds, he was confident, “could lead to interesting materials that people weren’t really looking at.”</p>
<p>He began exploring these exotic materials, which combine in one material the two fundamental types of chemistry: organic chemistry, which involves all compounds that include carbon and form the basis of all biological processes; and inorganic chemistry, which deals with everything else (and mostly with metals, which dominate the periodic table, and their compounds and alloys).</p>
<p>In his explorations of MOFs, he studied ways of making the materials fluorescent, so that they could, for example, detect certain molecules and signal their presence by emitting fluorescent light. He also studied ways of using MOFs as catalysts for very specific kinds of chemical reactions. “All of that came about through a combination of what I had learned about MOFs in grad school, and what I learned in Dan’s lab,” he says.</p>
<p>While MOFs were initially discovered about 20 years ago, he says, they rose to the prominence they enjoy today as a result of the realization that these compounds could be made to be extremely porous, with extraordinarily high surface areas in relation to their size. “That’s what propelled them to the prominence they have today. Now, it’s a huge field,” he says.</p>
<p>Among other projects, Dincă and his students found a way to make MOFs, which are usually electrical insulators, into electrical conductors, which enabled them to use the large surface area of these materials to create a new kind of supercapacitors for energy storage.</p>
<p>His decision to come to MIT a decade ago, he recalls, came at a time when “I had a number of different opportunities. In the end, it came down to the people.” Though he had more lucrative offers elsewhere, he chose MIT “not for the money, not for the weather. It’s the students you get. I’ve been to many other places, and I haven’t seen the quality of students that we have here. It’s just the people — and that includes the colleagues.” Last year, he earned tenure as an associate professor of chemistry.</p>
<p>Dincă became a U.S. citizen early this year. He and his wife, Alexandra, who is also from Romania, met while they were both students at Princeton. She is now a lawyer, and they have two children, Amalia and Gruia. His father, a Romanian Orthodox priest, and his mother, a kindergarten teacher, are retired and still live in Romania.</p>
<p>When he is not in the lab or the classroom, he says, “I try to be in nature as much as I can, like hiking up a mountain in the woods.” When his work involves travel, “I like to mix travel with some sightseeing.”</p>
<p>His research continues to expand but remains mostly focused on highly porous materials such as MOFs, though he has recently forayed into research related to one-dimensional materials, a project that is just getting underway.</p>
<p>“I’ve always been driven by a desire to make things,” Dincă says. He follows that approach in his teaching as well. In his classes, he sometimes grades half of the assignments but leaves the other half open and ungraded to encourage exploration. “I’m just grateful for all the students that I have, and have had,” he says. “Everything that I’ve achieved so far is due to them.”</p>
Mircea DincăPhoto: Bryce VickmarkEnergy, Materials Science and Engineering, Semiconductors, Chemistry, Chemical engineering, Nanoscience and nanotechnology, Profile, Faculty, School of ScienceUntangling DNA knotshttps://news.mit.edu/2018/untangling-dna-knots-0503
Chemical engineers discover how to control knots that form in DNA molecules.Thu, 03 May 2018 10:59:59 -0400Anne Trafton | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/untangling-dna-knots-0503<p>Just like any long polymer chain, DNA tends to form knots. Using technology that allows them to stretch DNA molecules and image the behavior of these knots, MIT researchers have discovered, for the first time, the factors that determine whether a knot moves along the strand or “jams” in place.</p>
<p>“People who study polymer physics have suggested that knots might be able to jam, but there haven’t been good model systems to test it,” says Patrick Doyle, the Robert T. Haslam Professor of Chemical Engineering and the senior author of the study. “We showed the same knot could go from being jammed to being mobile along the same molecule. You change conditions and it suddenly stops, and then change them again and it suddenly moves.”</p>
<p>The findings could help researchers develop ways to untie DNA knots, which would help improve the accuracy of some genome sequencing technologies, or to promote knot formation. Inducing knot formation could enhance some types of sequencing by slowing down the DNA molecules’ passage through the system, the researchers say.</p>
<p>MIT postdoc Alexander Klotz is the first author of the paper, which appears in the May 3 issue of <em>Physical Review Letters</em>.</p>
<p><strong>Knots in motion</strong></p>
<p>Doyle and his students have been studying the physics of polymer knots such as DNA for many years. DNA is well-suited for such studies because it is a relatively large molecule, making it simple to image with a microscope, and it can be easily induced to form knots.</p>
<p>“We have a mechanism that causes DNA molecules to collapse into a tiny ball, which when we stretch out contains very big knots,” Klotz says. “It’s like sticking your headphones in your pocket and pulling them out full of knots.”</p>
<p>Once the knots form, the researchers can study them using a special microfluidic system that they designed. The channel is shaped like a T, with an electric field that diverges at the top of the T. A DNA molecule located at the top of the T will be pulled equally toward each arm, forcing it to stay in place.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="/sites/mit.edu.newsoffice/files/untieB-2.gif" style="width: 595px; height: 64px;" /></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10px;"><em>A knot near the end of a stretched DNA molecule is driven toward the end and unties, leaving an unknotted molecule. (Image: Alex Klotz)</em></span></p>
<p>The MIT team found that they could manipulate knots in these pinned DNA molecules by varying the strength of the electric field. When the field is weak, knots tend to move along the molecule toward the closer end. When they reach the end, they unravel.</p>
<p>“When the tension isn’t too strong, they look like they’re moving around randomly. But if you watch them for long enough, they tend to move in one direction, toward the closer end of the molecule,” Klotz says.</p>
<p>When the field is stronger, forcing the DNA to fully stretch out, the knots become jammed in place. This phenomenon is similar to what happens to a knot in a bead necklace as the necklace is pulled more tightly, the researchers say. When the necklace is slack, a knot can move along it, but when it is pulled taut, the beads of the necklace come closer together and the knot gets stuck.</p>
<p>“When you tighten the knot by stretching the DNA molecule more, it brings the strands closer to each other, and this ramps up the friction,” Klotz says. “That can overwhelm the driving force caused by the electric field.”</p>
<p>Dmitrii Makarov, a professor of chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin, who was not involved in the study, describes it as “an elegant experimental demonstration that knots in DNA can ‘jam’ under tension, just like macroscopic knots do in our everyday experience. This work also provides important fundamental insights into friction on molecular scale, a phenomenon that is still poorly understood.”</p>
<p><strong>Knot removal</strong></p>
<p>DNA knots also occur in living cells, but cells have specialized enzymes called topoisomerases that can untangle such knots. The MIT team’s findings suggest a possible way to remove knots from DNA outside of cells relatively easily by applying an electric field until the knots travel all the way to the end of the molecule.</p>
<p>This could be useful for a type of DNA sequencing known as nanochannel mapping, which involves stretching DNA along a narrow tube and measuring the distance between two genetic sequences. This technique is used to reveal large-scale genome changes such as gene duplication or genes moving from one chromosome to another, but knots in the DNA can make it harder to get accurate data.</p>
<p>For another type of DNA sequencing known as nanopore sequencing, it could be beneficial to induce knots in DNA because the knots make the molecules slow down as they travel through the sequencer. This could help researchers get more accurate sequence information.</p>
<p>Using this approach to remove knots from other types of polymers such as those used to make plastics could also be useful, because knots can weaken materials.</p>
<p>The researchers are now studying other phenomena related to knots, including the process of untying more complex knots than those they studied in this paper, as well as the interactions between two knots in a molecule.</p>
<p>The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Research Foundation Singapore through the Singapore MIT Alliance for Research and Technology.</p>
DNA Double HelixImage: National Human Genome Research Institute/National Institutes of HealthResearch, Chemical engineering, DNA, Genetics, Biology, School of Engineering, National Science Foundation (NSF), Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART)Implantable islet cells come with their own oxygen supplyhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/implantable-islet-cells-come-their-own-oxygen-supply-0425
Device could help insulin-producing cells live longer after transplant and improve treatment of type 1 diabetes.Wed, 25 Apr 2018 05:00:00 -0400Anne Trafton | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/implantable-islet-cells-come-their-own-oxygen-supply-0425<p>Since the 1960s, researchers have been interested in the possibility of treating type 1 diabetes by transplanting islet cells — the pancreatic cells that are responsible for producing insulin when blood glucose concentration increases.</p>
<p>Implementing this approach has proven challenging, however. One obstacle is that once the islets are transplanted, they will die if they don’t receive an adequate supply of oxygen. Now, researchers at MIT, working with a company called Beta-O<sub>2</sub> Technologies, have developed and tested an implantable device that furnishes islet cells with their own supply of oxygen, via a chamber that can be replenished every 24 hours.</p>
<p>“Getting oxygen to these cells is a difficult problem,” says Clark Colton, an MIT professor of chemical engineering and the senior author of the study. “The benefits of this approach are: you keep the islets alive to perform their function, you don’t need as much tissue, and you reduce the ability of the implants to provoke an immune response.”</p>
<p>Tests of these implants in rats showed that nearly 90 percent of the islets remained viable for several months, and most of the rats maintained normal blood glucose levels throughout that time.</p>
<p>Yoav Evron of Beta-O<sub>2</sub> Technologies is the lead author of the study, which appears in the April 25 issue of <em>Scientific Reports</em>.</p>
<p><strong>Protecting islets</strong></p>
<p>Type 1 diabetes occurs when a patient’s own immune system destroys pancreas’ islet cells, so the patient can no longer produce insulin, which is necessary for the body to absorb sugar from the bloodstream. Early attempts to treat patients by transplanting islets from cadavers were unsuccessful because the islets didn’t survive after transplantation.</p>
<p>One of the reasons the transplanted islets failed is that they were attacked by the patients’ immune systems. To protect the transplanted cells, researchers have begun developing implants in which the islets are encapsulated in a material such as a polymer. However, a remaining challenge is making sure that the islets receive enough oxygen, Colton says.</p>
<p>In a healthy pancreas, all islet cells come into contact with capillaries, allowing them to receive oxygen-rich blood, at an oxygen partial pressure of about 100 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). (Partial pressure is a measure of the concentration of an individual gas within a mixture of gases). When doctors first tried to transplant islets into diabetic patients, many of the cells did not have any direct contact with capillaries, so their oxygen supply was too low.</p>
<p>Previous research in Colton’s laboratory discovered that the outer surface of islets needs to be exposed to at least 50 mm Hg of oxygen to remain viable and produce insulin normally. Through a series of experiments, the MIT team, working with researchers at Beta-O<sub>2 </sub>Technologies, determined the operating conditions of the device needed for islets to stay alive and function for long periods of time while assembled in a compact form small enough to be implanted in human patients.</p>
<p>In the device tested in the <em>Scientific Reports</em> paper, islets are encapsulated in a slab of alginate, a polysaccharide produced by algae, about 600 microns thick. A membrane on one side of slab keeps out immune cells and large proteins but allows insulin, nutrients, and oxygen &nbsp;through. Below the slab is the gas chamber, about 5 millimeters thick, which carries atmospheric gases such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide in addition to oxygen. Oxygen flows from the chamber, across the semipermeable membrane, and into the islets embedded in the alginate slab.</p>
<p>As oxygen diffuses through the slab, it is gradually consumed, so the oxygen partial pressure continually drops. To ensure that the partial pressure remains at least 50 mm Hg for 24 hours, the researchers found that they needed to begin with an oxygen partial pressure of 500 mm Hg in the gas chamber.&nbsp;</p>
<p>After 24 hours, the oxygen supply is replenished through a port — a device implanted under the skin and connected to a catheter that leads to the encapsulated islets, which are also implanted under the skin.</p>
<p><strong>Long-term survival</strong></p>
<p>In tests in diabetic mice without immunosuppression, the researchers showed that nearly 90 percent of the islets survived the entire transplant period, which ranged from 11 weeks to eight months. They also found that most of these animals’ blood sugar levels remained normal while the devices were implanted, then rebounded to diabetic levels after they were removed.</p>
<p>Another benefit of this approach is that, because most of the islet cells remain alive, they are less likely to provoke an immune response. When cells die, they break down, and the resulting fragments of protein and DNA are more likely to attract the attention of the immune system.</p>
<p>“By keeping the cells alive, you minimize the immune response,” Colton says.</p>
<p>James Shapiro, a professor of surgery, medicine, and surgical oncology at the University of Alberta, who has been running an islet transplantation program there for the past 20 years, says he believes this approach holds great promise and could help to eliminate the need to give islet transplantation patients drugs to suppress their immune system.</p>
<p>“This kind of device can protect the cells from immune attack and deliver oxygen in a way that allows more cells to survive,” says Shapiro, who was not involved in the study. “This would allow islet cells to be transplanted in patients without antirejection drugs, which would dramatically improve the safety of what we’re doing today with islet cell transplantation.”</p>
<p>Researchers at Beta-O<sub>2</sub> Technologies are now working on new versions of the device in which an oxygen storage chamber is implanted below the skin, separate from the islets. This version would only need to be replenished once a week, which could be more appealing for patients.</p>
<p>The research was funded, in part, by the Israeli Ministry of Sciences.</p>
Illustration showing pancreatic islets and oxygen molecules.Image: Christine Daniloff/MITResearch, Diabetes, Chemical engineering, School of Engineering, Health sciences and technology, MedicineCelebrating great mentorship for graduate studentshttps://news.mit.edu/2018/celebrating-great-mentorship-for-graduate-students-0424
MIT’s Committed to Caring Award selects third slate of dedicated professors.Tue, 24 Apr 2018 13:40:01 -0400Office of Graduate Educationhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/celebrating-great-mentorship-for-graduate-students-0424<p>“When we talk about our experiences as graduate students at MIT, my colleagues and I tend to use words like ‘challenging,’ ‘rewarding,’ ‘inspiring,’ or ‘stressful’,” says Courtney Lesoon, the 2017-2018 Graduate Community Fellow for the Committed to Caring Program and a PhD student in the History, Theory and Criticism Section of the Department of Architecture. “Usually our discussions center around our research interests, new findings in our field, or upcoming deadlines.”</p>
<p>The conversation about challenges and stresses at MIT, though, is arguably shifting. A number of new programs have been initiated across campus that prioritize emotional and mental health not just as supplementary to the lives of students, but as integral to them. Such programs include MindHandHeart, the campus coalition to support community wellness; work of the Institute Community and Equity Office (ICEO); Active Minds, the student-led initiative for better health and wellness; and Committed to Caring (C2C), which honors caring faculty on campus.</p>
<p>In recent years, a growing <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.4089" target="_blank">body of research</a> has highlighted the importance of advising and mentorship to graduate students’ academic experience and well-being. The Committed to Caring program recognizes that in graduate school, advisors and mentors set the tone for student experiences, and positive faculty support has the ability to shape student research and lives for the better. C2C honors professors who build inclusive cultures in their labs and classrooms, who support their students’ mental and emotional health, and who actively support their students’ scholarly pursuits. Selected faculty members are showcased via a broad campus poster campaign, individual profiles housed on the Office of Graduate Education website, and <em>MIT News </em>articles.</p>
<p><strong>A celebration of caring</strong></p>
<p>On April 11, a celebration was held to honor all past Committed to Caring awardees, as well as the 28 new awardees listed below. Profiles for the first two slates of C2C awardees may be found on the Committed to Caring website.</p>
<p>The event, held in the Samberg Conference Center, was hosted by Vice Chancellor Ian Waitz and included remarks by Provost Martin Schmidt and Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Education Blanche Staton. Formal recognition of these new awardees will be ongoing throughout the 2018-2019 academic year, as pairs of posters and profiles are released each month.</p>
<p>The following faculty members are the 2017-2018 recipients of the Committed to Caring Award:</p>
<p>Emilio Baglietto, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering</p>
<p>Cullen Buie, Department of Mechanical Engineering</p>
<p>Paola Cappellaro, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering</p>
<p>Gabriella Carolini , Department of Urban Studies and Planning</p>
<p>Anna Frebel, Department of Physics</p>
<p>Paula Hammond, Department of Chemical Engineering</p>
<p>Wesley Harris, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics</p>
<p>Erin Kelly, Sloan School of Management</p>
<p>Tom Kochan, Sloan School of Management</p>
<p>Ju Li, Department of Materials Science and Engineering</p>
<p>John Lienhard, Department of Mechanical Engineering</p>
<p>Eytan Modiano, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics</p>
<p>Susan Murcott, Department of Urban Studies and Planning</p>
<p>Bradley Olsen, Department of Chemical Engineering</p>
<p>Agustin Rayo, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy</p>
<p>Rebecca Saxe, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences</p>
<p>Warren Seering, Department of Mechanical Engineering</p>
<p>Julie Shah, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics</p>
<p>Matthew Shoulders, Department of Chemistry</p>
<p>Hadley Sikes, Department of Chemical Engineering</p>
<p>Justin Steil, Department of Urban Studies and Planning</p>
<p>David Trumper, Department of Mechanical Engineering</p>
<p>Lily Tsai, Department of Political Science</p>
<p>Harry Tuller, Department of Materials Science and Engineering</p>
<p>Evelyn Wang, Department of Mechanical Engineering</p>
<p>Kamal Youcef-Toumi, Department of Mechanical Engineering</p>
<p>Jinhua Zhao, Department of Urban Studies and Planning</p>
<p>Ezra Zuckerman, Sloan School of Management</p>
<p><strong>Student centered, student driven</strong></p>
<p>Graduate students from across MIT’s campus are invited by the Office of Graduate Education (OGE) to nominate professors whom they believe to be outstanding mentors for the Committed to Caring Award. The nominations are then parsed by a selected committee composed primarily of graduate students, with additional representation by staff and faculty in the form of a prior recipient.</p>
<p>Selection criteria for C2C include the scope and reach of advisor impact on the experience of graduate students, excellence in scholarship, and demonstrated commitment to diversity and inclusion. By recognizing the human element of graduate education, C2C aims to encourage good advising and mentorship across MIT’s campus. The C2C Program was conceived in 2014 by Monica Orta, then-OGE assitant director for diverisity initiatives, and implemented by Orta and OGE Communications officer Heather Konar.</p>
<p>The work is driven each year by one graduate student who serves as the C2C Graduate Community Fellow and works closely with Konar. This year’s selection committee included Assistant Dean for Graduate Education Suraiya Baluch (chair), Professor Amy Glasmeier (previous C2C honoree), and graduate students Courtney Lesoon (2017-18 C2C Graduate Community Fellow), Claire Duvallet, Danielle Olson, and Jennifer Cherone (2016-17 C2C Graduate Community Fellow).</p>
<p><strong>A process of affirmation</strong></p>
<p>The C2C Program contributes to OGE’s mission of making graduate education at MIT “empowering, exciting, holistic, and transformative.” The opening of nominations in 2014 received a strong response, and the number and richness of nominations in subsequent rounds has only grown.</p>
<p>Baluch remarked of the most recent selection round, “It was heartwarming to read the numerous accounts regarding acts of compassion, kindness and generosity of spirit in our community. It speaks to the power and impact acts of caring have that so many students felt compelled to participate in the nominating process. These acts were often simple, every day actions such as regularly inquiring about someone's wellbeing or sharing a meal as well as responding with humanity to life's struggles.”</p>
<p>In 2017, the OGE received 114 nominations for 72 faculty members across campus. Committee members expressed being deeply moved by the thoughtful, sincere, and touching nominations that were submitted. Blanche Staton, senior associate dean for graduate education, says “I am grateful to our students for recognizing the caring and positive spirit and the contributions of our faculty, and I join them in applauding the professors who, by their example, show us all what it truly means to ‘advance a caring and respectful community’."</p>
<p><strong>Guideposts for strong mentoring</strong></p>
<p>As the committee reviewed this past year’s nominations, a number of striking themes emerged. Supported by numerous personal quotes, fellow Courtney Lesoon and the C2C team developed a list of “Mentoring Guideposts” that reflect acts of mentorship that seem to be the most meaningful and formative.</p>
<p>MIT graduate students were moved to nominate mentors who:</p>
<ul>
<li>actively show empathy for students’ personal experiences;</li>
<li>advocate for students both academically and personally;</li>
<li>validate students by demonstrating interest in their research and ideas;</li>
<li>encourage and support students in developing a healthy work/life balance;</li>
<li>have courageous conversations about issues that impact students outside of MIT, such as political developments, personal loss, or housing needs;</li>
<li>initiate contact with students, check in consistently, and provide extra support as needed;</li>
<li>provide a channel for students to express their difficulties, including the means to do so anonymously;</li>
<li>foster a friendly and inclusive work environment;</li>
<li>emphasize learning, development, and practice over achievement and goals; and</li>
<li>advise informally, teaching students about the system of academia, the importance of networking, and professional development skills.</li>
</ul>
<p>The C2C team is exploring ideas to disseminate the guideposts widely across campus.</p>
Honorees Ahmed Ghoniem (left) and Wesley Harris enjoy the Committed to Caring celebration on April 11.Photo: Joseph LeeAwards, honors and fellowships, Faculty, Graduate, postdoctoral, Nuclear science and engineering, Mechanical engineering, Urban studies and planning, Physics, Chemical engineering, Aeronautical and astronautical engineering, DMSE, Linguistics, Philosophy, Brain and cognitive sciences, Chemistry, Political science, School of Science, School of Engineering, School of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences, School of Architecture and Planning, Sloan School of Management, Vice Chancellor, Education, teaching, academicsP.L. Thibaut Brian, professor emeritus of chemical engineering, dies at 87https://news.mit.edu/2018/pl-thibaut-brian-professor-emeritus-chemical-engineering-dies-0418
Longtime professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering was a champion of engineering and safety excellence throughout his career.Wed, 18 Apr 2018 11:10:01 -0400Melanie Miller Kaufman | Department of Chemical Engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/pl-thibaut-brian-professor-emeritus-chemical-engineering-dies-0418<p>Pierre Leonc Thibaut Brian, professor emeritus in the Department of Chemical Engineering, died on April 2 at age 87.</p>
<p>Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on July 8, 1930, Brian received a BS in chemical engineering from Louisiana State University in 1951. He earned his ScD in chemical engineering from MIT in 1956, supervised by Professor Edwin R. Gilliland. Upon graduation, he immediately joined the faculty of the Department of Chemical Engineering as director of the Bangor Station of the Chemical Engineering Practice School. As a professor, Brian’s research focused largely on mass and heat transfer with simultaneous chemical reaction. He was an early adopter of computers in chemical engineering and contributed to the associated opportunities in process control and numerical analysis.</p>
<p>“Thibaut was well known for many qualities but two may head the list: high energy and quickness of insight. He projected enormous energy and worked extremely hard — and this made him a captivating teacher,” says Ken Smith, the Gilliland Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering. “When Thibaut was presented with a complex, ill-defined problem, he would almost instantly understand what the essential elements really were and how one should go about attacking it.”</p>
<p>In 1972, Brian retired from MIT and joined Air Projects as vice president of engineering, where he remained until 1994. Brian’s early contributions at Air Products were mainly of a technical sort, largely in the context of air separation. Later, he became a very effective advocate for enhanced safety in the chemical process industry and particularly for sophisticated quantitative hazard analyses as a means of assessing risks. As a result of his efforts, Air Products’ safety record became one of the best in the industry and other companies emulated their procedures.</p>
<p>Brian was an active member and director of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; he received its Professional Progress in Chemical Engineering Award in 1973 and its R.L. Jacks Award (now re-named the Management Award) in 1989. Churchill College of Cambridge in the United Kingdom elected him to the position of Overseas Fellow, and hosted him for a sabbatical year. Brian was a member of the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology and the American Industrial Health Council. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1975 for his “contributions to both theory and engineering practice of desalination, mass transfer in chemically reactive systems, and the technology of liquefied gases.” Brian was elected to foreign membership in the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) in 1991. In 1972, he authored the book, “Staged Cascades in Chemical Processing.”</p>
<p>Predeceased in 2016 by his wife of 64 years, Geraldine 'Gerry,' he is survived by his son Richard and daughter-in-law Susan; his son James and daughter-in-law Sheryl; his daughter, Evelyn 'Evie'; his grandchildren, Richard Christopher Brian and Lauren Brian Spears; and by his great grandson, Olin Thomas Spears. Condolences may be made to <a href="http://brownandsonsfuneral.com" target="_blank">brownandsonsfuneral.com</a>.</p>
Pierre Leonc "PL" Thibaut Brian was a professor emeritus in the MIT Department of Chemical Engineering.Photo courtesy of the MIT Museum.Faculty, Obituaries, Chemical engineering, School of EngineeringPolymer synthesis gets a jolt of caffeinehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/polymer-synthesis-gets-jolt-caffeine-0413
Using the stimulant as a catalyst, researchers create new gels for drug delivery.Thu, 12 Apr 2018 23:59:59 -0400Anne Trafton | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/polymer-synthesis-gets-jolt-caffeine-0413<p>Caffeine is well-known for its ability to help people stay alert, but a team of researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital has now come up with a novel use for this chemical stimulant — catalyzing the formation of polymer materials.</p>
<p>Using caffeine as a catalyst, the researchers have devised a way to create gummy, biocompatible gels that could be used for drug delivery and other medical applications.</p>
<p>“Most synthetic approaches for synthesizing and cross-linking polymeric gels and other materials use catalysts or conditions that can damage sensitive substances such as biologic drugs. In contrast, here we&nbsp;used green chemistry and common food ingredients,” says Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT and one of the study’s senior authors. “We believe these new materials could be useful in creating new medical devices and drug delivery systems.”&nbsp;</p>
<p>In their paper, which appears the journal <em>Biomaterials</em>, the researchers demonstrated that they could load the gels with two antimalarial drugs, and they expect the material could also be used to carry other types of drugs. Drugs carried by this kind of material could be chewable or easier to swallow, the researchers say.</p>
<p>“It’s really appealing for patient populations, especially children, who have difficulty with swallowing capsules and tablets,” says Giovanni Traverso, a research affiliate at MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and a gastroenterologist and biomedical engineer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, who is also a senior author of the paper.</p>
<p>Former MIT postdoc Angela DiCiccio, who is now at Verily Life Sciences, the life sciences division of Google X, is the lead author of the paper.</p>
<p><strong>Caffeine surge</strong></p>
<p>Making polymer gels usually requires metal catalysts, which could be hazardous if any of the catalyst remains in the material after the gel is formed. The MIT team wanted to come up with a new way to make gels using catalysts and starting materials that are based on food products and other materials that are safe to ingest.</p>
<p>“Our goal was to try to simplify the method of manufacturing and impart an improved safety profile from the beginning by using potentially safer catalysts,” Traverso says.</p>
<p>Although caffeine has not been used for chemical synthesis before, it drew the researchers’ attention because it is plant-derived and can act as a weak base, meaning that it gently removes protons from other molecules. It also has a similar structure to some other organic weak bases that have been used to catalyze the type of chemical reaction needed to form these gels — the formation of ester bonds to create a polyester.</p>
<p>“Polyesters allow for the intentional design of ingestible materials made from bioderived resources,” DiCiccio says. “However, there didn’t exist any catalysts that were mild enough to enchain these molecules without causing unwanted reactions or requiring super high heat. Our new platform provides an elegant solution to this problem using inexpensive materials and broadly accessible chemistries.”</p>
<p>The researchers decided to use caffeine to induce citric acid, another edible material produced by plants, to form a polymer network along with polyethylene glycol (PEG), a biocompatible polymer that has been used in drugs and consumer products such as toothpaste for many decades.</p>
<p>When mixed with citric acid and PEG, and slightly heated, caffeine opens up an oxygen-containing ring in the PEG, allowing it to react with citric acid to form chains that consist of alternating molecules of PEG and citric acid. If drug molecules are present in the mixture, they also become incorporated into the chains.</p>
<p><strong>Mix and match</strong></p>
<p>The researchers showed that they could load two malaria drugs, artesunate and piperaquine, into these polymers. They could also vary the chemical and mechanical properties of the gel by altering its composition. They created gels that contain either PEG or another polymer called polypropylene glycol, as well as some that combine those two polymers in different ratios. This allows them to control properties such as the material’s strength, its surface structure, and the rate at which the drugs are released.</p>
<p>“Depending on what the application may be, or what drugs are being incorporated, you could mix and match to find an optimal mixture,” Traverso says.</p>
<p>The gels can also be imprinted with patterns such as the microscale architecture found on the surface of lotus leaves, which allows them to repel water. Altering the surface traits of the material could help researchers control how quickly or slowly the gels move through the digestive tract.</p>
<p>The resulting gels contain a small amount of caffeine, roughly the same as that found in a cup of tea. In preliminary safety tests, the researchers found no harmful effects in four types of human cells, or in rats.</p>
<p>“The authors’ caffeine-mediated, one-pot synthesis method awakens the field to new possibilities for the synthesis of bio-compatible materials and will certainly stimulate exciting new applications,” says Daniel Heller, an assistant member in the molecular pharmacology program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and an assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, who was not involved in the research.</p>
<p>The research was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Other MIT authors of the paper include Young-Ah Lucy Lee, Dean Glettig, Elizabeth Walton, Eva de La Serna, Veronica Montgomery, and Tyler Grant.</p>
MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers have devised a new way to create flexible polymer gels using caffeine as a catalyst.Courtesy of the researchersResearch, Chemical engineering, Koch Institute, School of Engineering, Drug delivery, National Institutes of Health (NIH), MedicineTata Center adds eight new projects to its 2018-2019 portfoliohttps://news.mit.edu/2018/tata-center-adds-eight-new-projects-0412
MIT principal investigators will receive funding and support for projects seeking an impact in the developing world.Thu, 12 Apr 2018 14:40:01 -0400Tata Center for Technology and Designhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/tata-center-adds-eight-new-projects-0412<p>The MIT Tata Center for Technology and Design recently announced eight new projects for the academic year 2018-2019 that will be supported through its annual seed fund. These projects were shortlisted after an exhaustive review and awarded on the basis of their potential impact on the developing world.</p>
<p>The center received close to 70 inspiring proposals that will put the MIT community’s wealth of knowledge and creativity to work for the world’s disadvantaged communities.</p>
<p>These newly-awarded proposals will become part of a portfolio of 45 active projects currently being supported by the center. Having funded more than 150 proposals over the past six years, the center, along with Tata Trusts, is “helping shepherd many of these proposals through a translational process that will ready them for adoption by startups, established firms, or policymakers in the coming years,” said Tata Center Director Rob Stoner.</p>
<p>The new Tata Center projects for 2018-2019 are:</p>
<ul>
<li>"Next-Generation Electrochemical System for Water Treatment in Rural Communities" — Alan Hatton of the Department of Chemical Engineering</li>
<li>"A Novel Assay for Simultaneous Detection of Latent Malaria Reservoirs and Artemisinin Drug Resistance" — James Collins of the Department&nbsp;of Biological Engineering</li>
<li>"Modeling and Deployment Strategies for Low-Cost Air Quality Sensors in Urban India" — David Hsu of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Youssef Marzouk of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Jesse Kroll of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering</li>
<li>"Utilization of Creamery Waste to Produce High-Quality Animal Feed" — Greg Stephanopoulos and Devin Currie, both of the Department of Chemical Engineering</li>
<li>"Designing New Policy and Technology Interventions to Mitigate Indian Agricultural Residue&nbsp;Burning Impacts Considering Effects on Local Agriculture" — Steven Barrett of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Leslie Norford of the Department of Architecture</li>
<li>"Understanding the Sources Contributing to the Air Pollution Crisis in India" — Colette Heald of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering</li>
<li>"Mobile Technology to Enable Non-invasive Screening and Therapy for Diabetes" — Richard Fletcher of MIT D-Lab</li>
<li>"Assessing the Socioeconomic and Technical Requirements for Village-Scale Water and Sanitation Systems" — Amos Winter of the Department of Mechanical Engineering</li>
</ul>
<p>Founded at MIT in 2012 with support from the Tata Trusts, one of India’s oldest philanthropic organizations, the Tata Center gives holistic support to MIT faculty and graduate student researchers working on projects aimed at improving quality of life in the developing world. A part of the MIT Energy Initiative, the Tata Center is on the web at <a href="http://tatacenter.mit.edu" target="_blank">tatacenter.mit.edu</a>.</p>
Photo: Tata CenterResearch, Funding, Grants, India, Developing countries, Development, Mechanical engineering, Biological engineering, Chemical engineering, Civil and environmental engineering, Architecture, Aeronautical and astronautical engineering, Tata Center, D-Lab, School of Engineering, School of Architecture and Planning, MIT Energy InitiativeMeenakshi Chakraborty and Anna Sappington named 2018-2019 Goldwater Scholarshttps://news.mit.edu/2018/meenakshi-chakraborty-anna-sappington-named-goldwater-scholars-0411
Two MIT computer science and molecular biology majors honored for their academic achievements.Wed, 11 Apr 2018 10:25:01 -0400Bendta Schroeder | School of Sciencehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/meenakshi-chakraborty-anna-sappington-named-goldwater-scholars-0411<p>MIT students Meenakshi Chakraborty and Anna Sappington have been named recipients of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship Awards for 2018-2019. They were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of candidates nominated by university faculty nationwide.</p>
<p>Chakraborty, a junior majoring in computer science and molecular biology, made an early start on biological research at MIT, having reached out to Institute Professor and professor of biology Phillip Sharp for mentorship on a high school report on circular RNA. The quality of her report earned her a place in the Sharp Lab as a Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program researcher during her first year at MIT. Now in her third year, Chakraborty works with mentor Salil Garg to test a theory about how microRNAs regulate embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Garg, Chakraborty, and Sharp propose that a certain understudied set of miRNAs coordinates the expression of key pluripotency genes, whose levels determine ESC behavior and fate.</p>
<p>In the future, Chakraborty plans to continue to pursue her combined interests in computation and molecular biology in doctoral studies, where she hopes to address a fundamental problem pertinent to human health. One faculty advisor wrote that he has “no doubt that she will continue in science at the highest level after her [undergraduate] degree,” describing her as “an extraordinary person; bright and modest, with an ambition to be the best.”</p>
<p>Sappington, a junior majoring in computer science and molecular biology, has worked on three major computational genomics projects in as many years at MIT. The first, now completed, she describes as a “robust computational pipeline for translating genome-wide association studies into real biological insights.” Initially applied to polygenic myocardial infarction and coronary heart disease risks, the methodology can now be applied to a range of high-impact disorders such as schizophrenia, Type 2 diabetes, autism, and cancer. In her current work, Sappington is using neural networks to help build a comprehensive catalog of retinal cell types for the <a href="https://www.broadinstitute.org/research-highlights-human-cell-atlas" target="_blank">Human Cell Atlas</a> in the lab of professor of biology and Broad Institute investigator Aviv Regev. In a 2016 National Institutes of Health summer internship at the National Human Genomic Research Institute, Sappington conducted a third research project in which she demonstrated a fast, alignment-free computational method for identifying orthologs — similar genes from species that are related by descent from a common ancestor.</p>
<p>In the future, Sappington says she hopes to become a physician-scientist with the goal of improving the lives of patients through more personalized medicine. One faculty advisor wrote that she “has that rare combination of intelligence, drive, compassion and interpersonal skills needed to excel at the highest levels,” adding that it is clear she may one day be “a leader in the new field of personalized medicine.”</p>
<p>In addition to MIT’s Goldwater Scholarship recipients, two seniors, physics major Zachary Bogorad and chemical engineering major Janice Ong, were given honorable mentions.</p>
<p>The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Senator Barry Goldwater, who served for 30 years in the U.S. Senate. The program is designed to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in math, the natural sciences, and engineering. Recipients receive stipends of $7,500 per year toward covering the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board.</p>
Meenakshi Chakraborty (left) and Anna SappingtonPhotos courtesy of the students.Awards, honors and fellowships, Students, Undergraduate, Biology, Physics, Chemical engineering, School of Science, School of Engineering, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs)School of Engineering first quarter 2018 awardshttps://news.mit.edu/2018/school-of-engineering-first-quarter-awards-0403
Faculty members recognized for excellence via a diverse array of honors, grants, and prizes over the last quarter.Tue, 03 Apr 2018 16:55:01 -0400School of Engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/school-of-engineering-first-quarter-awards-0403<p>Members of the MIT engineering faculty receive many&nbsp;awards in recognition of their scholarship, service, and overall excellence. Every quarter, the School of Engineering publicly recognizes&nbsp;their achievements by highlighting the&nbsp;honors, prizes, and medals won by faculty working in our academic departments, labs, and centers.</p>
<p>The following&nbsp;awards were given from January through March, 2018. Submissions for future listings&nbsp;are <a href="https://soe.mit.edu/communication/awards-submission-form/">welcome&nbsp;at any time</a>.</p>
<p>Lallit Anand, Department of Mechanical Engineering, was <a href="http://www.nae.edu/178117.aspx" target="_blank">elected to the National Academy of Engineering</a> on Feb. 7.</p>
<p>Polina Anikeeva, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2018/polina-anikeeva-and-feng-zhang-awarded-2018-vilcek-prize-0201" target="_blank">awarded the Vilcek Prize</a> on Feb. 1.</p>
<p>Regina Barzilay, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, was <a href="http://www.aclweb.org/portal/content/acl-fellows-2017" target="_blank">named an Association for Computational Linguistics Fellow</a> on Feb. 20.</p>
<p>János Beér and William H. Green Jr., Department of Chemical Engineering, were <a href="http://www.combustioninstitute.org/news/ci-news-and-announcements/inaugural-class-of-fellows-of-the-combustion-institute-elected/" target="_blank">named Inaugural Fellows of The Combustion Institute</a> on Feb. 22.</p>
<p>Angela Belcher, Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Biological Engineering, was <a href="http://www.nae.edu/MediaRoom/20095/177353/178117.aspx" target="_blank">elected to the National Academy of Engineering</a> on Feb. 7.</p>
<p>Michael Birnbaum, Department of Biological Engineering&nbsp;and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, was <a href="http://www.jimmyv.org/2018/v-foundation-announces-25-million-awarded-2017-cancer-reserach-nationwide/" target="_blank">awarded a Jimmy V Foundation Scholar Grant</a> on Feb. 25.</p>
<p>Tamara Broderick, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, <a href="http://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/announcements/tamara-broderick-receives-prestigious-army-research-office-award" target="_blank">won the Army Research Office Young Investigator Program Awar</a>d on Jan. 23; she was also <a href="http://sloan.org/fellowships/2018-fellows" target="_blank">awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship</a> on Feb. 15 and was <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1750286&amp;HistoricalAwards=false" target="_blank">honored with a National Science Foundation CAREER Award</a> on March 15.</p>
<p>W. Craig Carter, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2018/j-wel-grant-award-announcement-call-proposals-education-innovation-0201" target="_blank">awarded a J-WEL Grant</a> on Feb. 1.</p>
<p>Arup K. Chakraborty, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science&nbsp;and the Department of Chemical Engineering, was awarded a Moore Fellowship at Caltech on Jan. 1.</p>
<p>Edward Crawley,&nbsp;Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics was <a href="http://www.skoltech.ru/en/2018/03/skoltech-founding-president-crawley-named-foreign-member-of-the-russian-academy-of-science/" target="_blank">inducted as a foreign member into the Russian Academy of Science</a> on March 29.</p>
<p>Mark Drela, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, <a href="http://www.aiaa.org/HonorsAndAwardsRecipientsList.aspx?awardId=10ba0453-cdb4-4fb3-a055-e0687427901c" target="_blank">received the AIAA Reed Aeronautics Award</a> on Feb. 21.</p>
<p>Elazer R. Edelman, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, was honored with the Giulio Natta Medal in Chemical Engineering from the Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering "Giulio Natta" of Milan Polytechnic on Feb. 6; he also <a href="http://www.acc.org/about-acc/press-releases/2018/03/05/16/01/american-college-of-cardiology-names-distinguished-award-winners" target="_blank">won the 2018 Distinguished Scientist Award</a> from the American College of Cardiology.</p>
<p>Ahmed Ghoniem, Department of Mechanical Engineering, was <a href="http://www.acc.org/about-acc/press-releases/2018/03/05/16/01/american-college-of-cardiology-names-distinguished-award-winners" target="_blank">named a fellow of The Combustion Institute</a> on Feb. 23.</p>
<p>Shafi Goldwasser, Silvio Micali, and Ron Rivest, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, were <a href="http://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/announcements/three-eecs-win-bbva-foundation-frontiers-knowledge-awards" target="_blank">honored with BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards</a> in the Information and Communication Technologies Category on Jan. 17.</p>
<p>Stephen Graves, Department of Mechanical Engineering&nbsp;and the Sloan School of Management, was <a href="http://www.nae.edu/178117.aspx" target="_blank">elected to the National Academy of Engineering</a> on Feb. 7.</p>
<p>Paula Hammond, Department of Chemical Engineering&nbsp;and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/cen-09602-awards18" target="_blank">won the American Chemical Society Award in Applied Polymer Science</a> on Jan. 8.</p>
<p>Daniel Jackson, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, <a href="http://mlkscholars.mit.edu/2018-44th-annual-mlk-celebration/" target="_blank">won the MIT Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Award</a> on Feb. 8.</p>
<p>Stefanie Jegelka, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, was <a href="http://sloan.org/fellowships/2018-fellows" target="_blank">awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship</a> on Feb. 15.</p>
<p>Heather Kulik, Department of Chemical Engineering, <a href="http://www.onr.navy.mil/Science-Technology/Directorates/office-research-discovery-invention/Sponsored-Research/YIP/2018-young-investigators" target="_blank">won an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award</a> on Feb. 21.</p>
<p>John Lienhard, Department of Mechanical Engineering, was named one of the Top 25 Global Water Leaders on Jan. 10.</p>
<p>Barbara Liskov, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, <a href="http://www.computer.org/web/pressroom/liskov-2018-computer-pioneer-award" target="_blank">won the IEEE Computer Society 2018 Computer Pioneer Award</a> on Feb. 16.</p>
<p>Luqiao Liu, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, <a href="http://physics.illinois.edu/people/honors-and-awards/mcmillan-award.asp" target="_blank">won the William L. McMillan Award</a> on March 27; he was also honored with the <a href="http://www-mtl.mit.edu/news/archives/2018/02/the_2017_iupap.html" target="_blank">2017 Young Scientist Prize in the field of Magnetism</a> by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics on Feb. 12.</p>
<p>Wenjie Lu, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was <a href="http://www-mtl.mit.edu/news/archives/2018/02/wenjie_lu_recog.html" target="_blank">recognized by the Next Generation Workforce</a> on Feb. 12.</p>
<p>Stefanie Mueller, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, <a href="http://sigchi.org/awards/sigchi-award-recipients/2018-sigchi-awards/#stefanie-mueller" target="_blank">won an Outstanding Dissertation Award</a> from the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI) on Feb. 15.</p>
<p>Dava J. Newman, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, was <a href="https://www.aiaa.org/2018-AIAA-Fellows/" target="_blank">named a 2018 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Fellow</a> on Feb. 1.</p>
<p>Pablo A. Parrilo,&nbsp;Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was <a href="http://sinews.siam.org/Details-Page/siam-announces-class-of-2018-fellows?_ga=2.105023941.734179748.1522346909-1994176307.1519923527" target="_blank">named a&nbsp;2018&nbsp;Society of Industrial Applied Mathematics Fellow</a> on March 29.</p>
<p>Bryan Reimer, Center for Transportation and Logistics, <a href="http://autos2050.com/2050-awards/" target="_blank">won the Autos2050 Driving Innovation Award</a> on Jan. 10.</p>
<p>Ronald Rivest, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, was <a href="http://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/announcements/ronald-rivest-named-national-inventors-hall-fame" target="_blank">inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame</a> on Jan. 23.</p>
<p>Daniela Rus, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, <a href="http://www.ieee-ras.org/about-ras/latest-news/1201-2018-ras-award-recipients-announced" target="_blank">won the Pioneer in Robotics and Automation Award</a> from the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society on Jan. 24.</p>
<p>Noelle Selin, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, was <a href="http://www.ias.tum.de/en/fellowship-program/hans-fischer-fellowship/" target="_blank">awarded a Hans Fischer Senior Fellowship</a> on March 23.</p>
<p>Devavrat Shah, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science&nbsp;and the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society <a href="http://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/announcements/devavrat-shah-nickolai-zeldovich-receive-faculty-research-innovation" target="_blank">won a Frank Quick Faculty Research Innovation Award</a> on Feb. 20.</p>
<p>Julie Shah, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics&nbsp;and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory <a href="http://www.ieee-ras.org/awards-recognition/society-awards/ras-early-career-award-academic" target="_blank">won the 2018 Robotics and Automation Society Early Career Award</a> on March 23.</p>
<p>Alex K. Shalek, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science and the Department of Chemistry, was <a href="http://sloan.org/fellowships/2018-Fellows" target="_blank">honored with a 2018 Sloan Research Fellowship</a> on Feb. 15.</p>
<p>Yang Shao-Horn, Department of Mechanical Engineering&nbsp;and Materials Science and Engineering, was <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2018/four-mit-faculty-elected-national-academy-engineering-0216" target="_blank">elected to the National Academy of Engineering</a> on Feb. 7.</p>
<p>Cem Tasan, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, <a href="http://www.onr.navy.mil/en/Science-Technology/Directorates/office-research-discovery-invention/Sponsored-Research/YIP/2018-young-investigators" target="_blank">won the Young Investigator Award</a> on Feb. 22.</p>
<p>Karen Willcox,&nbsp;Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics,&nbsp;was <a href="http://sinews.siam.org/Details-Page/siam-announces-class-of-2018-fellows?_ga=2.105023941.734179748.1522346909-1994176307.1519923527" target="_blank">named a&nbsp;2018&nbsp;Society of Industrial Applied Mathematics Fellow</a> on March 29.</p>
<p>Laurence R. Young, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, was <a href="http://file:///C:\Users\Carolyn%20B\Downloads\scitech.aiaa.org" target="_blank">awarded the 2018 de Florez Award for Flight Simulation</a> from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics on Jan. 9.</p>
<p>Nickolai Zeldovich, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, was <a href="http://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/announcements/devavrat-shah-nickolai-zeldovich-receive-faculty-research-innovation" target="_blank">awarded a Faculty Research Innovation Award from EECS</a> on Feb. 20.</p>
Photo: Lillie Paquette/School of EngineeringAwards, honors and fellowships, Faculty, School of Engineering, Biological engineering, Chemical engineering, Aeronautical and astronautical engineering, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs), Mechanical engineering, Civil and environmental engineering, Koch Institute, IDSS, DMSE, Nuclear science and engineering, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL)Engineers turn plastic insulator into heat conductorhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/engineers-turn-plastic-insulator-heat-conductor-0330
Technique could prevent overheating of laptops, mobile phones, and other electronics.Fri, 30 Mar 2018 14:00:00 -0400Jennifer Chu | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/engineers-turn-plastic-insulator-heat-conductor-0330<p>Plastics are excellent insulators, meaning they can efficiently trap heat — a quality that can be an advantage in something like a coffee cup sleeve. But this insulating property is less desirable in products such as plastic casings for laptops and mobile phones, which can overheat, in part because the coverings trap the heat that the devices produce.</p>
<p>Now a team of engineers at MIT has developed a polymer thermal conductor — a plastic material that, however counterintuitively, works as a heat conductor, dissipating heat rather than insulating it. The new polymers, which are lightweight and flexible, can conduct 10 times as much heat as most commercially used polymers.</p>
<p>“Traditional polymers are both electrically and thermally insulating. The discovery and development of electrically conductive polymers has led to novel electronic applications such as flexible displays and wearable biosensors,” says Yanfei Xu, a postdoc in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. “Our polymer can thermally conduct and remove heat much more efficiently. We believe polymers could be made into next-generation heat conductors for advanced thermal management applications, such as a self-cooling alternative to existing electronics casings.”</p>
<p>Xu and a team of postdocs, graduate students, and faculty, have published their results today in <em>Science Advances</em>. The team includes Xiaoxue Wang, who contributed equally to the research with Xu, along with Jiawei Zhou, Bai Song, Elizabeth Lee, and Samuel Huberman; Zhang Jiang, physicist at Argonne National Laboratory; Karen Gleason, associate provost of MIT and the Alexander I. Michael Kasser Professor of Chemical Engineering; and Gang Chen, head of MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Carl Richard Soderberg Professor of Power Engineering.</p>
<p><strong>Stretching spaghetti</strong></p>
<p>If you were to zoom in on the microstructure of an average polymer, it wouldn’t be difficult to see why the material traps heat so easily. At the microscopic level, polymers are made from long chains of monomers, or molecular units, linked end to end. These chains are often tangled in a spaghetti-like ball. Heat carriers have a hard time moving through this disorderly mess and tend to get trapped within the polymeric snarls and knots.</p>
<p>And yet, researchers have attempted to turn these natural thermal insulators into conductors. For electronics, polymers would offer a unique combination of properties, as they are lightweight, flexible, and chemically inert. Polymers are also electrically insulating, meaning they do not conduct electricity, and can therefore be used to prevent devices such as laptops and mobile phones from short-circuiting in their users’ hands.</p>
<p>Several groups have engineered polymer conductors in recent years, including Chen’s group, which in 2010 invented a method to create “ultradrawn nanofibers” from a standard sample of polyethylene. The technique stretched the messy, disordered polymers into ultrathin, ordered chains — much like untangling a string of holiday lights. Chen found that the resulting chains enabled heat to skip easily along and through the material, and that the polymer conducted 300 times as much heat compared with ordinary plastics.</p>
<p>But the insulator-turned-conductor could only dissipate heat in one direction, along the length of each polymer chain. Heat couldn’t travel between polymer chains, due to weak Van der Waals forces — a phenomenon that essentially attracts two or more molecules close to each other. Xu wondered whether a polymer material could be made to scatter heat away, in all directions.</p>
<p>Xu conceived of the current study as an attempt to engineer polymers with high thermal conductivity, by simultaneously engineering intramolecular and intermolecular forces — a method that she hoped would enable efficient heat transport along and between polymer chains.</p>
<p>The team ultimately produced a heat-conducting polymer known as polythiophene, a type of conjugated polymer that is commonly used in many electronic devices.</p>
<p><strong>Hints of heat in all directions</strong></p>
<p>Xu, Chen, and members of Chen’s lab teamed up with Gleason and her lab members to develop a new way to engineer a polymer conductor using oxidative chemical vapor deposition (oCVD), whereby two vapors are directed into a chamber and onto a substrate, where they interact and form a film. “Our reaction was able to create rigid chains of polymers, rather than the twisted, spaghetti-like strands in normal polymers.” Xu says.</p>
<p>In this case, Wang flowed the oxidant into a chamber, along with a vapor of monomers — individual molecular units that, when oxidized, form into the chains known as polymers.</p>
<p>“We grew the polymers on silicon/glass substrates, onto which the oxidant and monomers are adsorbed and reacted, leveraging the unique self-templated growth mechanism of CVD technology," Wang says.</p>
<p>Wang produced relatively large-scale samples, each measuring 2 square centimeters — about the size of a thumbprint.</p>
<p>“Because this sample is used so ubiquitously, as in solar cells, organic field-effect transistors, and organic light-emitting diodes, if this material can be made to be thermally conductive, it can dissipate heat in all organic electronics,” Xu says.</p>
<p>The team measured each sample’s thermal conductivity using time-domain thermal reflectance — a technique in which they shoot a laser onto the material to heat up its surface and then monitor the drop in its surface temperature by measuring the material’s reflectance as the heat spreads into the material.</p>
<p>“The temporal profile of the decay of surface temperature is related to the speed of heat spreading, from which we were able to compute the thermal conductivity,” Zhou says.</p>
<p>On average, the polymer samples were able to conduct heat at about 2 watts per meter per kelvin — about 10 times faster than what conventional polymers can achieve. At Argonne National Laboratory, Jiang and Xu found that polymer samples appeared nearly isotropic, or uniform. This suggests that the material’s properties, such as its thermal conductivity, should also be nearly uniform. Following this reasoning, the team predicted that the material should conduct heat equally well in all directions, increasing its heat-dissipating potential.</p>
<p>Going forward, the team will continue exploring the fundamental physics behind polymer conductivity, as well as ways to enable the material to be used in electronics and other products, such as casings for batteries, and films for printed circuit boards.</p>
<p>“We can directly and conformally coat this material onto silicon wafers and different electronic devices” Xu says. “If we can understand how thermal transport [works] in these disordered structures, maybe we can also push for higher thermal conductivity. Then we can help to resolve this widespread overheating problem, and provide better thermal management.”</p>
<p>This research was supported, in part, by the U.S. Department of Energy — Basic Energy Sciences and the MIT Deshpande Center.</p>
Image: Chelsea Turner/MITBatteries, electronics, Photonics, Photovoltaics, Energy, Mechanical engineering, Chemical engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, Research, School of Engineering, School of Science, Department of Energy (DoE)Featured video: Magical Bobhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/featured-video-magical-bob-langer-0327
A fascination with magic leads Institute Professor Robert Langer to solve world problems using the marvels of chemical engineering.Tue, 27 Mar 2018 09:30:00 -0400MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/featured-video-magical-bob-langer-0327<div class="cms-placeholder-content-video"></div>
<p>As a child, Institute Professor Robert S. Langer was captivated by the “magic” of the chemical reactions in a toy chemistry set. Decades later, he continues to be enchanted by the potential of chemical engineering. He is the most cited engineer in the world, and shows no signs of slowing down, despite four decades of ground-breaking work in drug delivery and polymer research.</p>
<p>Langer explains, “For me, magic has been discovering and inventing things. Discovering substances that can stop blood vessels from growing in the body, which can ultimately lead to treatments for cancer and blindness.”</p>
<p>The Langer Lab has had close to 1,000&nbsp;students and postdocs go through its doors. Hundreds are now professors around the world. Many have started companies.</p>
<p>“I’m very proud of all of them,” says Langer. “I hope that I help them a little bit. That’s what we try to do.”</p>
<p><em>Submitted by: Melanie Miller Kaufman /</em>&nbsp;<em>Department of Chemical Engineering </em>| <em>Video by: Lillie Paquette / School of Engineering </em>| <em>1 min, 26 sec</em></p>
A fascination with magic leads MIT Professor Robert Langer to solve world problems using the marvels of chemical engineering.Photo: Lillie Paquette / MIT School of EngineeringFaculty, Featured video, Chemical engineering, Chemistry, Drug delivery, Bioengineering and biotechnology, Biological engineering, School of Engineering, Drug developmentA new way to find better battery materialshttps://news.mit.edu/2018/new-way-find-better-battery-materials-0326
Design principles could point to better electrolytes for next-generation lithium batteries.Sun, 25 Mar 2018 23:59:59 -0400David L. Chandler | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/new-way-find-better-battery-materials-0326<p>A new approach to analyzing and designing new ion conductors — a key component of rechargeable batteries — could accelerate the development of high-energy lithium batteries, and possibly other energy storage and delivery devices such as fuel cells, researchers say.</p>
<p>The new approach relies on understanding the way vibrations move through the crystal lattice of lithium ion conductors and correlating that with the way they inhibit ion migration. This provides a way to discover new materials with enhanced ion mobility, allowing rapid charging and discharging. At the same time, the method can be used to reduce the material’s reactivity with the battery’s electrodes, which can shorten its useful life. These two characteristics — better ion mobility and low reactivity — have tended to be mutually exclusive.</p>
<p>The new concept was developed by a team led by W.M. Keck Professor of Energy Yang Shao-Horn, graduate student Sokseiha Muy, recent graduate John Bachman PhD ’17, and Research Scientist Livia Giordano, along with nine others at MIT, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and institutions in Tokyo and Munich. Their findings were reported in the journal <em>Energy and Environmental Science</em>.</p>
<p>The new design principle has been about five years in the making, Shao-Horn says. The initial thinking started with the approach she and her group have used to understand and control catalysts for water splitting, and applying it to ion conduction — the process that lies at the heart of not only rechargeable batteries, but also other key technologies such as fuel cells and desalination systems. While electrons, with their negative charge, flow from one pole of the battery to the other (thus providing power for devices), positive ions flow the other way, through an electrolyte, or ion conductor, sandwiched between those poles, to complete the flow.</p>
<p>Typically, that electrolyte is a liquid. A lithium salt dissolved in an organic liquid is a common electrolyte in today’s lithium-ion batteries. But that substance is flammable and has sometimes caused these batteries to catch fire. The search has been on for a solid material to replace it, which would eliminate that issue.</p>
<p>A variety of promising solid ion conductors exist, but none is stable when in contact with both the positive and negative electrodes in lithium-ion batteries, Shao-Horn says. Therefore, seeking new solid ion conductors that have both high ion conductivity and stability is critical. But sorting through the many different structural families and compositions to find the most promising ones is a classic needle in a haystack problem. That’s where the new design principle comes in.</p>
<p>The idea is to find materials that have ion conductivity comparable to that of liquids, but with the long-term stability of solids. The team asked, “What is the fundamental principle? What are the design principles on a general structural level that govern the desired properties?” Shao-Horn says. A combination of theoretical analysis and experimental measurements has now yielded some answers, the researchers say.</p>
<p>“We realized that there are a lot of materials that could be discovered, but no understanding or common principle that allows us to rationalize the discovery process,” says Muy, the paper’s lead author. “We came up with an idea that could encapsulate our understanding and predict which materials would be among the best.”</p>
<p>The key was to look at the lattice properties of these solid materials’ crystalline structures. This governs how vibrations such as waves of heat and sound, known as phonons, pass through materials. This new way of looking at the structures turned out to allow accurate predictions of the materials’ actual properties. “Once you know [the vibrational frequency of a given material], you can use it to predict new chemistry or to explain experimental results,” Shao-Horn says.</p>
<p>The researchers observed a good correlation between the lattice properties determined using the model and the lithium ion conductor material’s conductivity. “We did some experiments to support this idea experimentally” and found the results matched well, she says.</p>
<p>They found, in particular, that the vibrational frequency of lithium itself can be fine-tuned by tweaking its lattice structure, using chemical substitution or dopants to subtly change the structural arrangement of atoms.</p>
<p>The new concept can now provide a powerful tool for developing new, better-performing materials that could lead to dramatic improvements in the amount of power that could be stored in a battery of a given size or weight, as well as improved safety, the researchers say. Already, they used the method to find some promising candidates. And the techniques could also be adapted to analyze materials for other electrochemical processes such as solid-oxide fuel cells, membrane based desalination systems, or oxygen-generating reactions.</p>
<p>The team included Hao-Hsun Chang at MIT; Douglas Abernathy, Dipanshu Bansal, and Olivier Delaire at Oak Ridge; Santoshi Hori and Ryoji Kanno at Tokyo Institute of Technology; and Filippo Maglia, Saskia Lupart, and Peter Lamp at Research Battery Technology at BMW Group in Munich. The work was supported by BMW, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Energy.</p>
Diagram illustrates the crystal lattice of a proposed battery electrolyte material called Li3PO4. The researchers found that measuring how vibrations of sound move through the lattice could reveal how well ions – electrically charged atoms or molecules – could travel through the solid material, and therefore how they would work in a real battery. In this diagram, the purple pyramid-like shapes are phosphate (PO4) molecules. The orange and green spheres are ions of lithium.Research, School of Engineering, Batteries, Chemical engineering, Mechanical engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, DMSE, Energy, Energy storage, Chemistry, National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DoE)Yuriy Roman: A chemical engineer pursuing renewable energyhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/faculty-profile-yuriy-roman-0323
MIT professor devises new ways to generate useful chemicals and fuels from renewable resources.Thu, 22 Mar 2018 23:59:59 -0400Anne Trafton | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/faculty-profile-yuriy-roman-0323<p>A couple of years into graduate school, Yuriy Roman had what he calls a “tipping point” in his career. He realized that all of the classes he had taken were leading him toward a deep understanding of the concepts he needed to design his own solutions to chemical problems.</p>
<p>“All the classes I had taken suddenly came together, and that’s when I started understanding why I needed to know something about thermodynamics, kinetics, and transport. All of these concepts that I had seen as more theoretical things in my classes, I could now see being applied together to solve a problem. That really was what changed everything for me,” he says.</p>
<p>As a newly tenured faculty member in MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering, Roman now tries to guide his students toward their own tipping points.</p>
<p>“It’s amazing to see it happen with my students,” says Roman, noting that working with students is one of his favorite things about being an MIT professor. His students also make major contributions to his lab’s mission: coming up with new catalysts to produce fuels, plastics, and other useful substances in a more efficient, sustainable manner.</p>
<p>“To me, the most rewarding aspect of my profession is to work with these extremely talented and bright students,” Roman says. “They really are great at coming up with outside-of-the-box concepts, and I love that. I think MIT’s biggest asset is precisely that, the students. To me it’s a pleasure to work with them and learn from them as well, and hopefully have the opportunity to teach them some of the things that I know.”</p>
<p><strong>Chemical synthesis</strong></p>
<p>Roman, who grew up in Mexico City, loved chemistry from a young age. “I just liked to play with things like soap and bleach, which maybe wasn’t the safest thing,” he recalls. Another favorite activity was juicing cabbages to produce a pH indicator. (Red cabbage contains a chemical called anthocyanin that changes color when exposed to acidic or basic environments.)</p>
<p>Roman’s mother was originally from Belarus, and with his multicultural background he developed a strong interest in learning about other cultures and visiting other countries. He won a full scholarship to Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, in Mexico, for high school and college, but during his first year of college, he became interested in going abroad to finish his degree.</p>
<p>A friend who was then an undergraduate at MIT encouraged Roman to apply to schools in the United States, and he ended up transferring to the University of Pennsylvania.</p>
<p>“My parents were very surprised. In Mexico, it is common to live with your parents long after finishing college. The concept of leaving for college is almost nonexistent,” Roman says.</p>
<p>Roman decided to study chemical engineering, allowing him to combine his love for chemical reactions and his desire to follow in the footsteps of a brother who was an engineer. After graduating, he planned to look for a job in the chemical industry, but his then-girlfriend, now his wife, was planning to begin medical school. She suggested that he go to graduate school with her, so they both ended up attending the University of Wisconsin at Madison.</p>
<p>There, Roman studied with James Dumesic, a chemistry professor who works on biofuels. For his PhD thesis, Roman devised a process to generate a chemical called hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from sugars derived from biomass. HMF is a “platform chemical” that can be converted into many different end products, including fuels.</p>
<p>After finishing graduate school, Roman thought he would go to work for a chemical company, but at Dumesic’s suggestion he decided to go into academia instead.</p>
<p>“When I started interviewing at different universities, I realized that as a professor, you can have a lot of freedom to explore ideas and tackle problems long-term, and you can still have a lot of contact with industry,” he says. “You have more control over your time and where you spend it, in terms of investing effort toward basic science.”</p>
<p>Out of graduate school, he got a job offer at MIT but first spent two years doing a postdoc at Caltech, while his wife did her residency at the University of California at Los Angeles. Working with Mark Davis, a professor of chemical engineering, Roman began studying materials called zeolites, which have pores the same size as many common molecules. Confining molecules in these pores allows for certain chemical reactions to occur much faster than they otherwise would, Roman says.</p>
<p>Davis also instilled in Roman the importance of designing his own catalysts rather than relying on those developed by others, which allows for more control over chemical reactions and the resulting materials. While many research groups focus either on designing catalysts or on using existing catalysts to come up with novel ways to synthesize materials, Roman believes it is critical to work on both.</p>
<p>“When you are in control of synthesizing your own catalysts, you can do much more systematic studies. You have the ability to manipulate things at will,” he says. “It’s working at this juncture of synthesis and catalysis that is the key to discovering new chemistry.”</p>
<p><strong>Green chemistry</strong></p>
<p>After arriving at MIT in 2010, Roman launched his lab with a focus on designing catalysts that can generate new and interesting materials. One key area of research is the conversion of biomass components, such as lignin, into fuels and chemicals. One of the biggest challenges in this type of synthesis is to selectively remove oxygen atoms from these molecules, which usually have many more oxygen atoms than fuels do.</p>
<p>During a brainstorming session, Roman and his students came up with the idea of using a metal oxide catalyst in which some oxygen atoms were removed from the surface, creating small pockets known as “vacancies.” Oxygenated molecules can be precisely anchored in those vacancies, allowing their carbon-oxygen bonds to be easily broken so the oxygen can be replaced with hydrogen.</p>
<p>In another project, Roman’s lab developed a <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2014/engineering-earth-abundant-catalysts-mimic-platinum-renewable-energy-technologies">more sustainable alternative</a> to catalysts made from precious metals such as platinum and palladium. These metals are used in many renewable-energy technologies, including fuel cells and lithium-air batteries, but they are among the Earth’s scarcest metals.</p>
<p>“If we were to go from our current fleet of vehicles with internal combustion engines to a fuel cell fleet, there’s not enough platinum in the world to sustain that amount,” Roman says. “You need to use Earth-abundant materials because there simply aren’t enough of these other precious materials to do it.”</p>
<p>In 2014, Roman and his students showed that they could create powerful catalysts from compounds called metal carbides, made from plentiful metals such as tungsten, coated with just a thin layer of a rare metal such as platinum.</p>
<p>Developing and promoting this kind of sustainable technology is one of Roman’s biggest research priorities.</p>
<p>“It’s a tremendous battle because the energy sector is just so large. The scale is so big and the infrastructure that’s already in place for petroleum-based fuel is so extensive. But it’s important for us to develop technologies for renewable resources and really curb our emissions of greenhouse gases,” he says. “Big, hard problems. That’s what we’re going after.”</p>
“To me, the most rewarding aspect of my profession is to work with these extremely talented and bright students,” Roman says.
Image: M. Scott BrauerResearch, Faculty, Energy, Chemical engineering, School of Engineering, Profile, ChemistryJune Park ’16 is a 2018 Gates Cambridge Scholarhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mitalumna-june-park-named-2018-gates-cambridge-scholar-0320
Chemical engineering alumna will pursue an advanced degree in engineering at Cambridge University in the U.K.Tue, 20 Mar 2018 15:50:00 -0400Melanie M. Kaufman | Department of Chemical Engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mitalumna-june-park-named-2018-gates-cambridge-scholar-0320<p>June Park ’16, an alumna of Course 10 (chemical engineering), is one of 35 American students to be awarded this year’s competitive Gates Cambridge Scholarship. She is currently an associate consultant at Putnam Associates, where she helps generate and deliver strategic recommendations for global biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.</p>
<p>Park will attend Cambridge University to earn a PhD in bioengineering, and will be working to develop a biomimetic, 3-D-printable scaffold for the development of lung stem cell-derived artificial trachea and organoids. The successful development of an artificial trachea using the synthetic scaffold and patient stem cells may transform the treatment of tracheal injuries and diseases, significantly improving the survival and post-treatment quality of life for millions of patients.</p>
<p>While at MIT, Park participated in several Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programs, including in the labs of Professor Bernhardt L. Trout at the Novartis-MIT Center for Continuous Manufacturing and Institute Professor Robert S. Langer at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. In the Trout Lab, Park studied polymer thin films for continuous manufacturing of pharmaceuticals. In the Langer Lab, she helped develop an ultrasound-mediated colonic drug-delivery device that became the platform technology for Suono Bio, a Boston-based biotech startup.</p>
<p>“Studying chemical and biological engineering at MIT opened up doors to a lot of interdisciplinary research opportunities, and helped me discover my passion for polymers and biology,” Park explains. “Beyond fluids and transport, Course 10B taught me a broad set of skills, from generating polymer nanoparticles and growing cells to modeling 3-D acoustics, building electronics, and doing genetics research.”</p>
<p>With keen interests in both education and entrepreneurship, Park also cofounded the Kepler Tech Laboratory while at MIT. Located in Kigali, Rwanda, Kepler Tech Lab is an innovation hub for business students to develop new endeavors to improve the energy and recycling industries.</p>
<p>Park says she is looking&nbsp;forward to this next step in her engineering career.</p>
<p>“The chemical engineering department and MIT at large have provided invaluable mentorship for navigating careers in both business and research. Even after graduation while working in consulting, the chemical engineering faculties and the MIT fellowship resources were generously offered to me,” she says.&nbsp;“I am extremely grateful for the MIT ChemE department and am excited to be joining the Gates Cambridge community."</p>
<p>Park was assisted in her application by Kim Benard in the Office of Distinguished Fellowships.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">&nbsp;</span>Established by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000, the Gates Cambridge Scholarship provides full funding for talented students from outside the United Kingdom to pursue postgraduate study in any subject at Cambridge University. The 2018 awards process was extremely competitive: There were nearly 800 applicants from around the country, with 35 ultimately chosen. Since the program’s inception in 2001, there have been 27 Gates Cambridge Scholars from MIT.</p>
June Y. Park '16 will be working to develop a biomimetic, 3-D-printable scaffold for development of lung stem cell-derived artificial trachea and organoids.Photo courtesy of June ParkChemical engineering, Alumni/ae, Bioengineering and biotechnology, Awards, honors and fellowships, Biological engineering, 3-D printing, Koch InstituteMIT graduate engineering, business, science programs ranked highly by U.S. News for 2019https://news.mit.edu/2018/graduate-engineering-business-science-programs-ranked-highly-us-news-0320
Graduate engineering program is No. 1 in the nation; MIT Sloan is No. 5.Tue, 20 Mar 2018 00:01:00 -0400MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2018/graduate-engineering-business-science-programs-ranked-highly-us-news-0320<p>MIT’s graduate program in engineering has again earned a No. 1 spot in <em>U.S. News</em><em> and World Report’s</em> annual rankings, a place it has held since 1990, when the magazine first ranked such programs.</p>
<p>The MIT Sloan School of Management also placed highly, occupying the No. 5 spot for the best graduate business program.</p>
<p>This year, <em>U.S. News</em> also ranked the nation’s top PhD programs in the sciences, which it last evaluated in 2014. The magazine awarded No. 1 spots to MIT programs in biology (tied with Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley), computer science (tied with Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford, and Berkeley), and physics (tied with Stanford). No. 2 spots went to MIT programs in chemistry (tied with Harvard University, Stanford, and Berkeley), earth sciences (tied with Stanford and Berkeley); and mathematics (tied with Harvard, Stanford, and Berkeley).</p>
<p>Among individual engineering disciplines, MIT placed first in six areas: aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical engineering (tied with Caltech), chemical engineering, computer engineering, electrical/electronic/communications engineering (tied with Stanford and Berkeley), materials engineering, and mechanical engineering. It placed second in nuclear engineering.</p>
<p>In the rankings of individual MBA specialties, MIT placed first in information systems and production/operations. It placed second in supply chain/logistics and third in entrepreneurship.</p>
<p><em>U.S. News</em> does not issue annual rankings for all doctoral programs but revisits many every few years. This year, MIT ranked in the top five for 24 of the 37 science disciplines evaluated.</p>
<p>The magazine bases its rankings of graduate schools of engineering and business on two types of data: reputational surveys of deans and other academic officials, and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school’s faculty, research, and students. The magazine’s less-frequent rankings of programs in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities are based solely on reputational surveys.</p>
Photo: AboveSummit with Christopher HartingRankings, School of Science, School of Engineering, Sloan School of Management, Business and management, Graduate, postdoctoral, education, Education, teaching, academics, Aeronautical and astronautical engineering, Chemical engineering, DMSE, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs), Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical engineering, Nuclear science and engineering, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, EAPS, Earth and atmospheric sciencesMIT rates No. 1 in 12 subjects in 2018 QS World University Rankingshttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-no-1-2018-qs-world-university-rankings-subjects-0228
MIT ranked within top 5 in 19 out of 48 subject areas.
Wed, 28 Feb 2018 12:00:01 -0500Stephanie Eich | Resource Developmenthttps://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-no-1-2018-qs-world-university-rankings-subjects-0228<p>MIT has been honored with 12 No. 1 subject rankings in the QS World University Rankings for 2018.</p>
<p>MIT received a No. 1 ranking in the following QS subject areas: Architecture/Built Environment; Linguistics; Chemical Engineering; Civil and Structural Engineering; Computer Science and Information Systems; Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering; Chemistry; Materials Science; Mathematics; Physics and Astronomy; and Statistics and Operational Research. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Additional high-ranking MIT subjects include: Art and Design (No. 4), Biological Sciences (No. 2), Earth and Marine Sciences (No. 3), Environmental Sciences (No. 3), Accounting and Finance (No. 2), Business and Management Studies (No. 4), and Economics and Econometrics (No. 2).</p>
<p>Quacquarelli Symonds Limited subject rankings, published annually, are designed to help prospective students find the leading schools in their field of interest. Rankings cover 48 disciplines and are based on an institute’s research quality and accomplishments, academic reputation, and graduate employment.</p>
<p>MIT has been ranked as the No. 1 university in the world by QS World University Rankings for six&nbsp;straight years.</p>
Photo: Patrick GilloolyRankings, Computer science and technology, Linguistics, Chemical engineering, Civil and environmental engineering, Mechanical engineering, Chemistry, Materials science, Mathematics, Physics, Economics, Design, EAPS, Business and management, Accounting, Finance, DMSE, School of Engineering, School of Science, School of Architecture and Planning, Sloan School of Management, SHASS, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs), Architecture, School of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences